Bonfire of the Vanities
by hisviks
Summary: Eric/Sookie–AU Godric went to the FOTS willingly and found a chance at redemption. For the vampires of Louisiana their existence is about to be changed with the ancient vampire who promises atonement. Blind faith costs all as the fate of true death looms. Unwilling to let go Sookie Stackhouse determines to fight where vampires have seemed to resign. Rated M for language and lemons.
1. Prologue

_'vanity of vanities, all is vanity' - Ecclesiastes, 1:2._

Prologue

_"I announce this good news to the city, that New Orleans will be more glorious, richer, more powerful than she has ever been; First, glorious in the sight of God as well as of men: and you, O New Orleans will be the reformation of all Americas, and from here the renewal will begin and spread everywhere, because this is the navel of America. Your counsels will reform all by the light and grace that God will give you. Second, O New Orleans, you will have innumerable riches, and God will multiply all things for you. Third, you will spread your empire, and thus you will have power temporal and spiritual."_

Turbulence had a sundered the political planes of New Orleans for weeks. An ancient vampire whom they called the Repenter was challenging the reigning queen. He preached to his flock from an old crypt in the St. Louis no. 1 cemetery. Soon that could no longer hold all his followers, the Red Weepers, and they sought a larger arena.

The abandoned scrap yard filled with more vampires night by night from far and wide. All came to listen to the Repenter preach. He spoke of the excess, the frivols and the waste. Only if vampires accepted that they were the occasions of sin could they be saved.

Unnerved by the activity in her governing capital the Queen sought out the help of the vampire authority. In a display of power they raided and attacked one fateful night. The Repenter commanded his Red Weepers not to react to the influx of armed men. The image of peace the vampires surrendered themselves to The Authority. No blood was shed and the Red Weepers were released when The Authority deemed them unthreatening.

The Queen lost her backing and was forced to fend for herself. It didn't take long for the Red Weepers to turn their grief against their queen. Rumours of her spending the public coffers on her personal pool room enticed the crowd into their rebellion. Whispers of blood found them storming the palace, without a loss of human life, the Queen found herself deposed and headless.

A great fire erupted from the city of New Orleans that night, one by one the fine possessions of the former queen fuelled the flames over Sophie Anne and her retinues' bodies.

The crowd instated a reluctant Repenter to the throne. He called his child to his side for he would need his sacrifice. A prophecy had come to him for a new Cyrus would come from the North and with that defeat a new light would emerge. A light that would salve the wounds of their dark souls.

The Repenter spoke these words to his weepers, "Our existence is insanity. We don't belong here." The crowd set to wail as they honoured their new king with deep bows of devotion.

It is said the Repenter's child spoke these words, '_But we are here_,' as he pleaded with his master.

Only those who held doubt in their faith heard those words. Thus that faithful night there were only two that heard those words. The child who spoke them and his loyal progeny.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I'm relatively new to this writing business having had a very successful maiden voyage by winning Sephrenia's Writing Challenge with my one shot In Memoriam. It can be found on my profile page along with its companion piece Memento Mori. ****If you'd like to read some of my other work I have uploaded the first chapters of two other stories I have been working on to my own site (hisviks dot wordpress dot com). Expect weekly updates on all three from now on. This story will be updated every Friday. The first chapter of this story should be uploaded along with this so enjoy your continued reading.**

**This story will be a complete re-imagining of the first three seasons of True Blood starting at the end of season one. Loosely based on the historical events in 15th century Florence surrounding the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola**

**Please note that I don't own anything pertaining to the universe of SVM and True Blood created by Charlaine Harris and HBO. Any recognisable characters, story lines and/or dialogue belong to them. The italic speech in this chapter is an altered version of a speech spoken by Savonarola.**


	2. Chapter 1 - It Was Nice Knowing You

Chapter 1 - Jessica

"Jessica!" he screamed through the dimly lit room. The volume was deafening in its sudden expletion.

Startled by his outburst Sookie shook from her slumber her arms immediately surrounding her vampire boyfriend. His supernatural strength threw her limbs back and forcefully landed her in the pillow defences of the headboard. She tried to shush him as he continued to double over in agony and pain.

"Bill," she pleaded. "What's wrong? Tell me please." The rush of fear was engulfing her senses once again. For the short time that she had known him Sookie had suffered through the experience of his possible true death one too many times. Their turbulent beginnings had only just started to ease into some semblance of normalcy.

The vampire was shaking in agony at the pain, so much so that Sookie feared touching him any further. Her inability to anticipate to his needs was wracking her into a bundle of nerves, desperately hoping for some resolution on an action. Rather than the situation alleviating itself he seemed to endure worse pains as he continued to scream. Loudly and in pain the only audible word being the name of another woman who she didn't know.

"Well isn't that sweet?" A poorly concocted Southern accent drawled from the door. "Didn't take you for a BDSM partaker Bill. Though I really should, you've dealt out enough pain to be able enjoy the other side of it."

"Pam what the hell are you talking about," Sookie fumed. "What's wrong with him and who is Jessica. Is she his maker?"

"He really doesn't tell you much does he sugar lumps," she mocked. "Jessica is his child. He made her a couple of weeks ago and then dropped her into Eric's and my lap for safekeeping. By the looks of it she's being subjected to torture right now. She's not handling it well."

Listening to all what Pam said was too much for Sookie to take in. Focusing on Bill's wellbeing first she demanded from Pam to make him better.

"You're quite the darling Sookie," she replied amused. "The only one who can stop that is Jessica. Now I'm here to collect Bill so step aside little human."

Sookie jumped in front of her projected trajectory with her arms crossed across the chest, screaming no at the top of her lungs.

"Really?" Pam said unimpressed, a slight lift of her brow was the only indication she even registered the telepath in front of her. "What do you think _you_ could do to stop me?"

"Wait, if you and Eric are supposed to be keeping Jessica safe why isn't she?" Sookie demanded her hands now on her hips and an impatient foot tapping away on the bare wooden boards.

"Things have changed," she sighed her bored tone unrelenting in its pronunciations. "She's as safe as could be."

"Not if she's being tortured," Sookie exclaimed incensed. "Oh my God! Is Eric torturing her?"

"No," she replied her patience now running thin on top of the insult to her beloved maker. The situation she and Eric found themselves in was precarious enough. When Sookie continued to look at her with cold fury she continued, "Eric's doing the rounds just as I am. My best guess, she's joined the self-flagellation crowd."

"The what?" Sookie asked confused.

"Step aside, or I'll make you," Pam warned fangs out, her patience now run out. "I have more than one vampire to pick up tonight."

Finally seeing the threat of the blonde vampire Sookie reluctantly stepped aside. With ease Pam flipped the flailing vampire over her shoulder and carried him out of the house. Sookie trailed after them in her white cotton nightgown her bare feet sinking into the wet ground. Tears stained her face as she desperately tried to swallow the sobs escaping her.

"I'll come get you out," Sookie called after Bill who was yet to make a coherent sound in his agony. Pam unceremoniously dumped him in the back of her box truck and secured him with silver cuffs. Bill cried at the touch of the silver against his skin.

"Is that really necessary?" Sookie demanded hot tears spilling from her eyes.

"It's for his safety as well as the others," Pam informed gesturing at her collection of detained passengers. She pulled down the roll up door unfazed at the crying telepath.

"What's going on Pam?" she asked not understanding what was happening.

"Not for human ears," she replied with a faint hint of melancholy. "It was nice knowing you Sookie Stackhouse," she greeted before disappearing into the driver's cab and speeding off. Sookie watched the dissipating form of the truck in the dark night. She sobbed in the faint light of the front porch till she found some semblance of the inner strength. She had been forced to gather so much of it since the meeting of Bill Compton.

Sookie ran into the old Compton home her muddied feet leaving behind the marks of her footsteps. She shoved on her clothing over her nightgowns and slipped her dirtied feet in her sneakers. Running at high speeds over the grounds of the familiar cemetery she arrived at her car and took off to the only person she knew who could know anything.

She pounced incessantly on the door of the trailer until the sleepy form of her friend opened it. He rubbed at his eyes still bloodshot. "Sookie," he spoke seeing the urgency across her features. "What's wrong?"

Sookie rambled in quick succession of the evening's events as he prepared them two cups of tea. Her energy running on adrenaline, she crashed at the same time that she managed to conclude her retelling. Her shoulders slunk in as she tried desperately not to be overcome with tears once again.

"Listen cher," Sam started as he ran a hand through his tangled hair. "I've only heard rumours so far. The last week has been tumultuous in vampire politics. How much do you know from Bill?"

Sookie sat quiet for a while. As much as she shared about herself and her past with Bill he had yet to tell her anything. She knew a little about his human life but she didn't even know about this Jessica. It dawned on her she knew nothing about him or vampire politics. Had Bill not been in the perilous unknown situation that he was he would have received the full brunt of the anger that was gathering inside her with the night's events.

"I know Eric Northman is a Sheriff of this area," she replied. "I know there's a thing called the magister. Although I have no idea what he does. That's about it."

"I think we better switch to coffee," Sam sighed as he set up the machine.

Sam explained the hierarchy vampires upheld with a king or queen and their sheriffs well into the early morning hours. He hoped Sookie would come to realise she needed to give up on the first man she loved. He was a lost cause now, a casualty of the regime change.

He didn't tell her this in the hopes that she would love him instead. He knew their chance of being something more than friends had long passed. There weren't many people Sam Merlotte would afford this to but Sookie Stackhouse was one of the few. He told her because he loved her enough to tell the truth and expect nothing in return. He could love her from afar as long as she was safe and sound. Sookie thanked him for all he knew and returned home deflated and void of feeling anything after feeling everything in quick succession.

The rising sun emerging from the distant horizon on the flat lands blinded her. A bath of hot water was drawn and after rinsing her feet in the shower she sank in thinking of the vampires in her life. Bill held her heart and she feared for the loss of it again. Somewhere along the way the odd twosome that were Eric and Pam had won a soft spot into her erratically beating organ too.

It was a short period of time since the first vampire she had ever met many had been followed by many others soon after. When her eyes first locked with Eric's it had been difficult to hide the pull even from Bill. She couldn't even take in his face properly as it hung in shadows of his straight long hair. It had been a sensation that had been foreign to her until that moment. Bill's words of warning had her wary at their second meeting. Eric had been surprising in his willingness to meet her demands. She was well aware she had little say in the matter but he had given her an allowance in trade for her cooperation. It was a sign of respect that not many had afforded her in her discriminated life.

Pam had been surprisingly normal despite her sexual advances with the aftermath of Long Shadow's demise. Truthfully the ice queen demeanour of their first encounter had instilled fear in Sookie for the blonde vampires. Seeing her in her soft pink clothing had revealed her true persona.

There was also something between Eric and Pam that had intrigued Sookie. Their relationships fluctuated back and forth between the different parts they played in each other's life. They allowed each other to lean and support in measures necessary at hand. It was a quality she recognised from her grandparents' relationship. That had been the only happy marriage Sookie had stood witness to in her life. She had hoped she and Bill would find such an equilibrium but his reluctance to let her in had stunted that from developing.

She ran Pam's farewell through her mind over and over again. A tear fell into the steaming water that Bill's parting words to her would be the name of another woman. She couldn't even remember the last words she spoke with Eric. No doubt it was laced with hostility, he had been removing Bill from her then too.

The tears continued to fall over the lives that would be lost. Sam had been quite clear those in power before would be no more; they were marching to their own death. Bill had never told her what he did for work but his arrest attested to some attachment to the regime according to Sam.

She cried till her ducts were shattered dry. Of all the veins to be drained by vampires she never thought it would be this one. Their presence, albeit a dangerous one, had given her a connection. Something the people she loved, her friends and her family, had never been able to give her. Among the supernatural she was not crazy, nor was she abnormal. She was not handicapped for she was gifted around them.

Exhaustion lulled her to a deep sleep and she woke several hours later in a cool bath. To her grief it only made her remember the temperature of her lover's touch. She removed herself from the tub and regarded the mess she had become in the bathroom mirror.

She made up her mind as she confronted her own reflection. After her shift she would go to Fangtasia. Even if she failed to speak to Bill or anyone she could rest assured that she tried. She splashed cold water on her face and retreated to her bed to wallow till she had to get ready to leave again.

Fangtasia looked quite the contrast to the first time she visited it. Gone were the long lines of eager fangbangers. The only sign of them was with a small vigil by a charred cross in the parking lot.

Human armed guards carrying the emblem of the sun surrounded the building. Soldiers of the Sun. Sookie had heard of them, they belonged to the Fellowship of the Sun church. She didn't quite understand what the anti-vampire organisation was doing guarding a vampire club. From the mental signatures inside there did not seem to be a conflict among the natural enemies.

She gathered her courage and approached the entrance. A large elderly man looked her up and down with distaste.

"The place is closed indefinitely," he said to her. His thoughts of her were less than kind. "Best find yourself something alive from now on."

She looked at him with indignity despite the peril of the situation. "I'm not a fangbanger," she seethed. "I work for Eric Northman and I would like to see him."

"The waitresses have all been released," he replied. "Call Ginger for your final pay check."

"I'm not one of his waitresses," she exhaled in exasperation. "He'll be expecting me. Call him if you must."

The guard spoke into an earpiece and after some words back and forth he opened the door for her. "Paul will escort you to Mr Northman's office."

She muttered an insincere thanks and followed Paul into the office. When she was seated Paul left the room and locked the door on her. Not that Fangtasia had been the image of charm before but in its current desolate form it was downright creepy.

As she was kept waiting for a seemingly endless time she roamed her eyes across the office at her leisure. It was rather messy and disorganised compared to the last time she was in here. She had noticed then that it was exceptionally tidy.

Her boredom was getting to her, despite the severity of the situation. Sookie sat on Eric's oversized chair pretending to be the big bad sheriff of area five with her feet on his desk. She considered finding something to stand in as a mock cigar but her exploration of his desk was coming up short. When she found something it was a little out of her grasp so she leaned her body in towards it at which point the door flung open.

"Ms Stackhouse," Eric bellowed out just as her fingertip was reaching the object with her tongue darting to the corner of her mouth. She yelped in surprise and fell painfully to the floor. He sped over to help her up. He was startled by her appearance that innate light that seemed to set everyone around her to shadows was missing. In its place sat the grief and worry of one much older than she.

"I see you made yourself comfortable," he smirked trying to make light of the situation. Humour had always been essential to his skills of survival and Pam had proven to be a worthy companion in such folly. Sookie was about to let his sarcastic ass have it, till she realised that was probably not the best course of action considering the circumstances at hand.

"Thank you," she returned for his lack of chivalry. When she stood he pushed his index finger to his lip indicating she better not speak. He wrote on a pad.

_Room is bugged. Follow script below._

She did as instructed asking him for the accounts to close up the bar. Sookie would go through the documents in his office whilst he would finish up some paperwork. As they reached the end of the script he started to write on the pad again.

_E: It is not safe for you to be here. What are you doing here?_

_S: I wish to say goodbye. Help if I can._

_E: Bill is already shipped off to New Orleans. It's too late for him._

A tear slipped down her cheek as she read the words. Eric quickly scribbled on the pad and put considerable amount of space between them.

_E: Please keep distance. I have not been allowed to feed for days._

She looked at him with glistening eyes. She offered her wrist up to him but he vehemently shook his head.

_E: I can't he will know. Thank you for the offer._

_S: Let me help._ _You can use my skill against the FOTS._

_E: They are the least of my worries._

_S: Who then?_

_E: Vampires. Cannot fight it. Too late for Pam and I our deaths are already decided._

_S: Please let me help. Even if it's too late for Bill I will continue to help._

He regarded the object of his obsession. Eric wondered if she would grant a dying man a final wish, the touch of her lips. It's all he would ask of her but he refocused to the direr situation at hand wondering if he could make use of her.

_E: Can you stay here beyond dawn? Till after sunset._

Sookie nodded in affirmation. He wrote down his plan and she followed him out after handing him her car keys. She was shoved into the supply closet whilst he glamoured the guards sparingly to make them believe Sookie had left.

Fifteen minutes before dawn Eric walked the inside premises with Paul locking out all the indoor guards. It was the only concession he had been able to negotiate with their presence. If their lives were to be sacrificed he needed assurance they would not be ended prematurely during the day. He told Pam to check on their remaining wards and head down to her coffin where he would join her later.

He waited in the darkened hallway outside the supply room till the sun rose and he could feel his progeny subdue into her slumber.

Eric opened the supply closet door and slipped in. Sookie had fallen asleep waiting and he wondered if he should just leave her to it, holding her for warmth in his own rest. He felt out for his maker through their bond and now found him safely dormant. He sighed a breath of relief that he had not entertained in centuries. Sookie stirred from his movements the hard floor hardly proofing to be a comfortable spot.

She didn't dare speak without a clue how bugged everything was. Seeing her apprehension he informed her she could speak freely in here.

"Eric please tell me what's going on," she said relieved to be able to speak with him. "I promise to help however I can."

He nodded as he settled himself down his legs crossed over each other on the cement floor. "Allow me to get settled," he said. "Not having fed for so long has made it difficult to fight the pull of the sun it will pass soon enough."

Sookie regarded as he sat there clearly in pain. She wished to comfort him even though he had indicated that she keep her distance from him. She looked at the supplies but there was no True Blood to be found anywhere.

He grunted in more pain as he struggled to stay awake. He had never had to do this whilst so malnourished. Eric feared he wouldn't be able to fight it much longer, through slit lids he glanced at the anxiously waiting tiny blonde.

"Sookie," he said strained. "Does your offer of blood still stand?"


	3. Chapter 2 - Mine

_He grunted in more pain as he struggled to stay awake. He had never had to do this whilst so malnourished. Eric feared he wouldn't be able to fight it much longer, through slit lids he glanced at the anxiously waiting tiny blonde._

"_Sookie," he said strained. "Does your offer of blood still stand?"_

Chapter 2 – Mine

"Yes," Sookie said relieved to be of any use. "Won't _he_ know?" she asked still not knowing who _he_ may be.

"No," Eric said. "He's in his day rest he cannot feel me anymore."

She walked over to him. "Which vein will be the easiest?"

He didn't say anything but smirked as he stared at the femoral artery that seemed to be beating just for him from underneath her black shorts.

"Wrist or neck is all that's on offer on the Sookie buffet," she said with a hint of annoyance.

"Neck," he said. "Please hurry."

She moved herself on top of his lap; the slanted angle of his legs moved her down so she sat with her legs parted against his torso. She moved her hair to the side as he inhaled the scent emanating from her.

"Please be gentle," she asked softly. He nodded and his fangs descended. She tensed at the sight of it so he laid his lips in the crook of her neck softly kissing her sun drenched skin. She eventually relaxed despite the impending pain. She never understood the fangbangers' desire to be bitten. It had hurt whether it was Bill or any other vampire.

He proceeded, her skin suitably numb, with as much control as he could muster allowing his fangs to slide into her skin cutting cleanly. His fangs ascended back to their usual stance as soon as the wound bled out. Without tearing at the point of incision he sucked in her blood gently. Despite being so starved he savoured the unique taste that was hers.

She whimpered at his attentions. Her last blood draw at the doctor had been more painful. She fell into a haze of endorphins and at the feel of it she moved her chest closer upon his, melting into his touch. He moaned, deeply in his throat, at her movement and the taste. Never had she had anticipated it feeling so good to give nourishment to another like this.

After taking his fill he closed up her wound with his saliva. He groaned at the feel of fresh blood coursing through his body his head thrown back against the wall with eyes closed relishing the small high. Their eyes locked on each other once more as he moved his head back to its normal stance.

She grazed her fingers over the two marks. They were small like two pinpricks, he looked upon them with annoyance. His fangs descended again and at the sound she startled a little. He pressed his index finger against his right fang and dotted her marks till the wound was fully healed.

"Thank you," she whispered in awe as she felt her healed skin.

"No," he said his eyes still firmly locked on hers. "Thank you."

The pull of the sun and the circumstances for their close quarters lay forgotten for a moment. The magnetism that had drawn them to each other with a mere gaze that first night at Fangtasia had overtaken them. She leaned her face in to his only briefly thinking of Bill. For all she knew he was dead now and Eric would most assuredly be soon.

It hit her then that any future romantic prospect was lost on her. All the vampires in her life would disappear and she would be utterly alone again. Alone with the thoughts of others to keep her company. She had lived it once. Accepted it for what it was then, now she had known something else and feared having to revert to what was.

Her blood was still wet on his lips when she opened her mouth on to his. His arms encircled her from behind, as she pulled her own around his neck. She groaned at his touch and ground her body down at the feel of his erection.

They both recognised what this was. This moment would haunt their futures till theirs passed. It was all that pulled them together. It was what all the others had gathered towards. This final one.

Eric growled at her when she pulled her lips from him for an influx of a breath. The noise he emitted should have scared her but instead it warmed her in anticipation. She pulled her t-shirt from her body revealing her plain white bra. He nuzzled himself between the cups of and kissed his way up back to her lips. As she fumbled with her bra clasp he removed his leather jacket tossing it behind her.

Her breasts were now free and he marvelled at their beauty. He thanked his long forgotten gods to be blessed with this gift before his final death. He placed her on the small pile of their combined clothing kissing down the soft silken skin of her stomach.

He pulled his own t-shirt from his body and crumpled it into a pillow for her to lay her head upon. Sookie smiled at the considerate gesture. She had never taken him for a gentleman. He unfastened her shorts and she lifted her behind as he pulled them along with her underwear down her limber legs.

He gazed down at her naked form in all its glory. The sway of her curves, the brightness of her eyes. She was the most magnificent creature in the world to him. The light that was she, was present once more.

Stunning in her simplicity.

It may have been the hunger; it may have been the surroundings. It did not matter, this he knew for certain was the single most alluring sight he had ever beheld. He would never allow this memory to be stolen from his mind.

"I should not have wasted time in your pursuit," he said with regret. "I should have taken you when I saw you." Under any other circumstances Sookie would have been disgusted at his declaration of possession but as his lips took control of her lower ones she completely understood his sentiment. His tongue was caressing her folds with an expertise her fantasies would never be able to conjure up.

A finger slipped in. Then another. They stroked in tandem bringing her to heights never before travelled. He suckled at the tiny bundle of nerves in harmony and tears of blood were profusely falling from his eyes. They were not a set on from the bleeds. For it was what he tasted in his mouth and felt around his fingers. This was heaven and he was a man condemned to hell.

She fell hard from the extraordinary height he had brought her to. Covering her lips with his and stifling her gut wrenching cry. As she calmed down he pulled his fingers from her and sucked at the damp digits, relishing in the flavour he found there. She tried to release his belt but he was too far away from her. He chuckled softly at her apparent impatience and at her continued insistence he unbuckled and threw off his pants.

Sookie marvelled at the sight that appeared from under his jeans. This is why she feared him. He would ruin her for all other men and leave her behind. Alone. Again.

The exquisite carvings of his chest drew her eyes to the destination of her desire. His erect cock was a marvel on its own. She had never considered the male organ a thing of beauty but then none had looked like this in the mind of others.

She nearly forgot to breathe when he gave it a stroke in anticipation. He guided it slowly to her folds as his eyes locked onto hers again, that eternal pull blinding them to each other.

He moved the tip of his throbbing head from her clit through her folds till he held fast by her entrance. The feel of his touch on her skin sent tremors through her body, barely contained. She moved towards him as he pushed in with the softest of touches. She gasped at the feel of him entering her for the first time never having felt so fulfilled.

Despite his desperation he remembered her request for gentleness as he moved himself inside of her slowly. The tenderness of his touch contrasted with the ancient callouses on his fingertips that trailed her soft skin. She caressed him with the backs of her hands with the precision of a dancer urging him to increase his speed when he finally sank inside her fully.

He was tantalisingly slow in his movement urging every skill inside him in awe of her. Not a sound was heard from them aside from the involuntary cry or groan that escaped them as gusts of pleasure interjected. They had no time for lofty words all they would have was this. Their eyes remained locked upon each other as they moved together in unison.

She began to pant as the sensory overload overtook her whilst her skin glistened with the exertion of a promise. He took her lips again depriving her of the oxygen she sought as her tight walls clamped down on him. She was momentarily destitute in her euphoria when her senses dissipated to a flash of darkness. When she woke she smiled the most content smile ever granted upon him. In this he saw life, future and engagement. Everything that he stood to lose.

He was moving inside her with more haste as she urged him moving her legs just so. He groaned at the feel of it and kissed her desperately as his climax impended. He pumped into her once. Twice. With a roar and a final stroke he detonated both their orgasms into a moment of oblivion. They were one and then fell apart again.

Neither one dared say a word. This moment would rest on their minds forever however short that may be. They held on to each other tight not willing to move a fraction of an inch. Neither one willing to accept the finality of it.

_Mine,_ she heard from a rare insight into his mind. It didn't instil the unease when she heard Bill claim her or resurface the thoughts of her great uncle thinking that exact word. For just that moment it felt right, it was a private plea rather than a public proclamation.

"Yours," she said with a pain in her heart. He took to her lips again as their limbs tangled in bliss.

"Mine," he said with reverence.

She fell in a short slumber in his arms as he continued to stroke his fingers through her hair. Her blood and body had restored him beyond any state he had known in his existence.

"Thank you," Sookie whispered as she stirred again.

He held his forehead against hers gazing down into her dark depths.

"Thank you Sookie Stackhouse," he replied in devotion.

At the feel of her shivers he surrounded her with his leather jacket. The sight of it made his cock stir again. He was still sheathed fully inside her and she gasped at the feel of him.

"Perhaps we should talk as planned," Sookie sighed knowing if she didn't stop him a word wouldn't be spoken between them till sunset. He regretfully nodded in agreement as she whimpered at the loss of him.

"Don't worry," he whispered in her ears. "I'm far from done with you yet."

Sookie nodded shyly before she collected her thoughts to the situation at hand. She told him what she knew from Sam admitting it was mostly based on rumours.

"Tell me what's really happened," she asked as she traced little circles across his chest.

He began telling her the story of how his queen called for his aid as she was dealing with a vampire known as the Repenter. When he arrived with his assembled forces he was too late, a great fire was blazing in the yard of the palace with her remains and her belongings. He instructed his forces to retreat and regroup outside state lines.

Eric was ready to depart with Pam to Texas the moment he felt his maker's call. They had not seen each other in well over a century. Contact had been sparse. The call was blindingly strong and when he appeared by his side his maker was being crowned the new king of Louisiana.

The crowd of followers was vast and he spoke to their cheers. His maker was not the same as when he had last seen him. He had been downcast then, weary with time not as he was now.

"He has embraced a religion at the cost of our immortality," Eric finished sadness evident in all the fine lines of his face.

"What does that mean _our_immortality?"

"It is all I can tell you," he said with a small shrug. "Know that this is the end of all vampires in Louisiana. The only way you can help is to prevent it spreading further."

"What aren't you telling me?" she demanded. "Stop treating me like _some_human you can dismiss."

"I cannot tell you more," he said irritated. "He has commanded me so."

"I don't care about his commands," she replied equally annoyed as she grabbed onto his face with her hands. "Tell me."

"He is going to sacrifice us all in a great big bonfire," he said before he continued in wonder, "how did you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked with her brows furrowed.

"Release me from his command. The command from a maker is unbreakable."

"I did that?" she asked confused.

"Yes. This is good."

"We can stop him? You can be saved?" she asked hopefully.

"He is my maker, I cannot defy him. My fate is already sealed."

"I can break the command," she pleaded as hot tears fell down her cheek as her brief relief was crushed to pain once again. She knew this was going to be one time occurrence but now she refused to let it go.

"You cannot make me immune from it," he sighed as he kissed her tears away.

"I won't accept this," she cried. "Let's try it on Pam see if I can make her immune to your command."

"Let me go Sookie," he pleaded. "Try for the others. I will be glad to know I am now able to release Pam with your help."

"No," she shook her head. "We can run somewhere with Pam. I'll break his call like his commands."

"He will always find me through the blood Sookie. I am at the mercy of my maker. Please don't cry, I wish to remember you happy."

She sobbed at her lack of any control over the situation. What use was her telepathy if it served no purpose now?

"What about another vampire? The lady from the AVL?" She knew she was grasping at straws now. Eric didn't live a thousand years by not contemplating every possible scenario.

He shook his head, "They support his reign. He is human friendly, the poster boy of mainstreaming. They are too unaware of his true intentions. He is accredited to making peace with the Fellowship of the Sun."

"No one can stop him?" she sniffed hiding her tears in his chest. The only comfort he found was running his fingers repeatedly through her hair.

"He is the second oldest vampire on the continent. His strength is unsurpassable. That is ignoring the fact he is my maker and I cannot deny him anything whether I wish to or not."

"Well who's the oldest?" she asked with an optimism that disregarded his fatalistic tendencies.

"Russell Edgington has a thousand years on him. He has been missing for well over a decade after the death of his companion. He is rumoured to live in a cave somewhere."

"Where?" she asked.

"What does it matter?" he sighed unnecessarily. "He is insane, it is of little use to us."

"It's the spark of hope I'm hanging on to. I refuse to give up." He smiled at her perseverance. Her lack of fear and determination had drawn him to her from the moment they met.

"Northern Mississippi off the Natchez Trace," he sighed. "Sookie I admire your persistence but this isn't going to save us."

"I don't care what you think. Now give me something to hope for," she said as she attacked his lips. He latched on with equal vigour and they satiated themselves with several rounds ranging from hot and heavy to slow and teasing. When dusk was approaching she reluctantly let go of him to dress. As the sun set he flew her off the roof of Fangtasia to her car hidden a few blocks away.

He kissed her desperately in the brief moment of time they had left before his absence would become too apparent. He slipped a sealed piece of paper in her pocket.

"Read it when you get home," he said with his final kiss.

"Don't worry," she whispered into his ears. "I'm far from done with you yet."

He gave her a knowing smile placating to her hope as the weight of their end sank to the depths of his body. With a heavy heart he flew up into the sky.

_ There is little left of my time but for a brief moment in time you were mine. This is what I will cherish with my last breath when I go to my true death. Because of you Sookie Stackhouse I know what love could be. I will forever remember that moment in time when you were mine._

_-E._

**A/N: Thanks for reading again. In response to a guest review who was worried that Godric was behind this I would like to explain that whilst Godric is somewhat of an antagonist at the beginning of this story he is by no means an evil irrational villain. Misguided at most, far from evil and malicious. For a large part this story deals with Godric's hesitance and confusion over the situation he finds himself in and his newly found faith. Sacrifice can be interpreted in many ways and Godric is just being very literal in interpretation for now. I promise no crispy Eric, I wouldn't break the first rule of True Blood fanfiction like that.**


	4. Chapter 3 - She is Gone

_He kissed her desperately in the brief moment of time they had left before his absence would become too apparent. He slipped a sealed piece of paper in her pocket._

"_Read it when you get home," he said with his final kiss._

"_Don't worry," she whispered into his ears. "I'm far from done with you yet."_

_He gave her a knowing smile placating to her hope as the weight of their end sank to the depths of his body. With a heavy heart he flew up into the sky._

Chapter 3 – She is gone

As Eric finished briefing his progeny in his office he gave a signal that they were to meet in the supply closet in five minutes. She gave him her customary farewell true to script and he finished up the last of his paperwork sparing him three minutes with his own thoughts.

Sookie.

He had written her a sappy note. Eric could freely admit to that, he didn't have a romantic bone in his body. Never did he have need for it till now but he had written it for _her._ To remember him by. Partly for himself because he knew she would cry for him. That someone would carry tears for him because he wouldn't cry. For Pam and his maker he would cry but not for himself.

He had accepted his fate but her visit had given him a sliver of hope. Pam. She could release Pam from his maker's command, the one imposed by Godric on him. He would release Pam and Sookie could break his commands. To a grand sire the release of their child's child felt the same as a true death. A fizzling of the tie. This is what he would inform Godric what happened. He would be able to detect his deception so he would have to word it carefully.

_She is gone._

Those were the words he had settled on. It would be true; he was sending her away out of state lines. Preferably out of the country. She would fight him on this, just like Sookie. For a brief moment he worried about putting two such determined women together. Perhaps it was for the best for them to have one another. Sookie would need some sort of protection from who knows what would move in with the power vacuum. They would balance each other out quite well. Pam was rational enough to halter Sookie's bravado where Sookie was an invaluable asset Pam would not do as well without.

She is gone.

They were the words he had to swallow ever since he departed from the blonde telepath. He got up for his off the record meeting with Pam. His time for contemplation was now spent on the two most important women in his life.

Pam was caging back and forth in the small space and when the door opened she looked downright pissed.

"It smells of blood and sex in here," she hissed with daggers shooting from her eyes. "More specifically of _you_, blood and sex."

"Sookie," he answered in response to both.

Her eyes widened momentarily in shock before she went back to pissed. "Ass."

"Yes, twice actually," he smirked in reminiscence. It would be only thing that could get a semblance of joy in his mind. He would be holding onto those memories for as much time as he could allow.

Pam rolled her eyes at him her annoyance ever apparent he had no need for the gesture the register as much. Abstinence and fasting had made Pam even more detesting of everything and everyone. He had allowed her to sustain on Tru Blood whenever she could without raising suspicions. Still it tasted like shit. Now he stood in front of her gloating about partaking in both blood and sex with the vampire version of catnip and the Holy Grail combined. He truly was an ass and it had nothing to with the magnificence of his rear.

"How?" she asked hoping to get on with it. She knew her master wasn't that cruel to just call her in here to rub it into her sensitive nostrils.

"She came to say goodbye," he shrugged. "She offered me her blood. I had to wait till after dawn."

She nodded understanding now how he had been able to circumvent Godric's detection. She remained pissed that she had been excluded from this impromptu feast. Eric was always terrible when it came to sharing and apparently impending death had done little to change that.

"Well you can smell the rest," he continued. "That's not the most important though. Her telepathy it worked on me."

"She read your mind?" Pam asked disbelievingly. "Well there's another corpse for the ever growing shit pile."

"Pamela," he gritted out through clenched teeth.

Her shoulders moved up unimpressed as she regarded him with her blank face. It was the truth as far as she was concerned. What use was sugar coating it?

"I don't think so," he explained even though he had considered she had heard a glimpse. _Mine._ "She was able to release Godric's command not to speak of the final plans."

After he demonstrated to her what he had not been able to tell her before. She was shocked not only at the full extent of the clusterfuck they now found themselves in but also Sookie's expanded ability. The telepathy on its own had done little to impress Pam so far.

"We can use her," Pam exclaimed with glee. "We can run Eric."

He shook his head regretting to have to repeat the conversation he had with Sookie hours earlier.

"Just you."

"Eric, no," she said with pain that cut sharper than any sword to his core. A small blood tear fell on her flawless pink pantsuit as the only physical sign of their collective pain.

"One is better than none," he spoke reverently. It was spoken out of comfort but neither one of them received any of it with his words.

"Two heads are better than one," she replied sarcastically.

"I cannot serve two masters," he said as he softly kissed her forehead. "Let me go."

vVvVvVv

Sookie drove home satiated and sore refusing to let pessimism stifle her determination. 'Walking on Sunshine' was playing on full blast in the bright yellow car as she screeched along painfully out of tune. In her mind she was planning ahead. Sookie was going to drive over to northern Mississippi the next day and use her telepathy to find the ancient vampire.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt she should condemn her actions of the day but she couldn't. As wrong as it was to betray Bill like that, conditions had made circumstances. The saying '_All's fair in love and war'_ suddenly gained meaning to her. After only just surviving her death at the hands of a serial killer she had vowed not to live with any regrets.

She placed Eric's note unread under the floorboard of her bedroom. It held a small collection of items that had gained importance in her short life. It would remain unread there until she had determined there was no hope or he was truly gone.

She regretfully showered the feel of him off her and crawled into bed. A mental note was made before she drifted off to inform Sam she would be gone for a while. He'd fight her on it, well aware what she was up to but she would quit if it came down to it. No regrets.

Her doorbell rang incessantly at three in the morning. She cast out her mental net and discovered the signature of one of the undead. It was vaguely familiar but she didn't recognise it as Bill or Eric.

"Pam?" Sookie said shocked at the normally put together vampire looking so vulnerable at her door greeted her. She feared the worst for Eric. "What happened to you?"

"He released me," she whimpered. Sookie let out a sigh of relief with the knowledge he was still alive for now. Sookie knew vampires weren't very touchy feely but the situation seemed dire. So she did what she would have done to Pam were she human. She embraced her in a hug as Pam continued to sob bloody tears all over her white nightgown.

"We're going to find Russell Edgington, Pam don't give up on him yet," Sookie soothed as she tried to believe the determination of her own convictions.

Her words seemed to reach the normally stoic vampire. She removed herself from Sookie's grasp and cleared her face. She adjusted her posture and she seemed just like the vampire who had greeted Sookie at the door of Fangtasia.

"Would you like some blood," Sookie offered. "I think I have some True Blood in the fridge. There will be some at Bill's regardless."

"So no Eric Northman treatment for me then," she leered a little at Sookie as her natural persona reappeared.

"Sorry Pam," Sookie smiled good-humouredly at Pam's regained composure. "I'm all out of me."

"I'm still commanded not to partake in fresh feeding for now," she shrugged. "I'll take whatever you have. It all tastes like cardboard to me."

Sookie watched in fascination as Pam downed her entire supply of Tru Bloods with the largest grimace she had ever seen anyone sport.

"Here," Pam said looking a little rosier. "It's a list of commands my maker wishes you to break."

Sookie took the piece of white paper with his elegant script. One she had only known of since the night before. She traced it lightly as she read the different commands that had been imposed on Pam.

"Which one first? The feeding?"

Pam shook her head. "No I'm starving and you're the only edible thing around here. By the looks of you Eric took his fair share. I'm not risking it upon his request."

Sookie blushed as she remembered how Eric had taken blood from her and the sensation of it alone. Her rose coloured cheeks didn't dissipate much after she thought of what had happened after that.

"So we're skipping out on the abstinence one then too," Sookie said to a disappointed Pam.

"Well I was hoping not," Pam purred out.

"Things might be desperate Pam, but I'm not."

"Shame," she shrugged. "I'll find someone soon enough. Till you're desperate that is."

As Sookie shook her head in disbelief at Pam's persistence they set about breaking the maker's commands. Testing each one aside from her enforced abstinence. It was nearing dawn and Sookie brought Pam to Bill's hiding place.

"How can he live like this? It's like he was asleep the last century," Pam said disgusted at the dishevelled hovel that Bill Compton called his home. Pam had only ever slept in dirt in dire emergencies but Bill Compton apparently felt right at home in it. This spoke volumes to Pam of his character.

Sookie started to tear up at Pam's words. The thought of Bill dead or alive was still distressing. She could only hope for the best within the unknown circumstances that shrouded her. What was most disturbing to her was the thought of never knowing what would come of him. If she was fighting a battle already lost or not.

Pam awkwardly patted her shoulder with a little too much force for it to be a gentle touch. "There, there," she intonated without an ounce of warmth.

"Thank you Pam," Sookie replied politely as she dragged her tears away with the backs of her hands. "I'll be back here at sunset."

vVvVvVv

The phone rang indicating an unknown number. His thumb lingered millimetres over the touch screen waiting to hit the green button. His hand still held the same rigid stance of his human days. A sword had resided in that crevice since he could walk and his hand had simply grown around it along with callouses of use. It had impended him from using his hand to its full range all his existence, interestingly enough his hand was now the perfect cradle for his mobile phone. In contemporary times the phone had also waged more wars than his broadsword. He missed those days, things were simple and settled with a stroke of the sword now he had to persist with a swipe of his thumb. Nothing ever got resolved with that movement.

"Northman," he finally answered wondering where his lust for a good battle had departed to.

"My son," the voice on the line said in Eric's native tongue. "I felt your distress. Has something happened to Pamela?"

"Yes," Eric said. He concentrated on his feelings knowing he would never see his progeny or Sookie again as he spoke the words he had carefully chosen with great remorse. "She is gone."

"I lost a child before I made you," Godric spoke as he recognised the same emotions he had once felt in his seemingly endless existence.

"Cecily," Eric supplied remembering.

The line remained silent for some time. Eric felt the maker child bond dampen from Godric's side. Godric had spoken of her only once when Eric had asked if he had siblings. He was given a name and no more, the bond had stood decidedly empty then too.

"I am sorry for your loss," Godric finally said thinking of the words humans offered each other in condolence. His immersion among the Newlins had given him an appreciation for such acts of kindness expressed in words. Death was familiar to him but loss was something that wore him down. It haunted his existence where death was simply a companion.

"As am I," Eric replied truthfully. He knew his maker would not want to speak more of it. Some things never changed over the many centuries of existence. Thankfully it was to his and Pam's advantage now. "How are things in New Orleans?"

"Things are as well as can be expected," he replied stoically. "I would like you to join us here."

"I can drive out tomorrow night," Eric said. "I would be there before dawn."

"Very well," Godric replied before the line went dead.

Godric had not thought of that name for so long. When he felt that little spark of life fade through his child her face had emerged again. Now he sat in his darkened chamber her name and appearance refusing to leave him alone. A white light always shrouded her form. Sometimes she waved. Other times she sat and stared. It was not much different to when she was still undead. Now she sat on his desk looking directly at him piercing her eyes to the very depths of his being.

"Cecily," he spoke softly. A single tear shed in her memory.

For the first time in all the centuries that he was so sure he _saw_ her, she spoke back.

"What has happened to you father?" the frail girl asked.

She was but a wisp as a human, her skin already deathly pale before her turning. Her green eyes had haunted him ever since. Delicate and fine features graced her. Godric had remarked that she would be considered the epitome of beauty in these times. She was always too skinny to be considered as such in her era. This was the first century Godric had lived through that excess had bred worth in restraint. These times would have suited her.

Her hair was a tousle of light red waves that always overshadowed her frame as she looked up at him through a curtain of them expecting an answer.

"You speak," he said in awe.

"Sometimes."

"Little has changed with you then," Godric mused with a tiny smile.

"Much has changed with you papà," she said with a small snigger. "Your clothes are quite interesting."

"It is what we wear these days," he replied looking down at the linen tunic and drawstring pants. They represented comfort and simplicity to him.

"No. It's what you wear," she observed. "Light."

"Your abhorrence for the superfluous leaves you as poignant as ever."

She gave a tiny shrug, "I try."

"Your brother lost his child tonight," he offered.

"She is gone but not truly gone," she spoke cryptically. Godric had heard humans use this sentence to placate the grieving and wondered where she had picked up this modern saying. Cecily's presence, be it temporal, was proof of this truth to him.

"How old is his child?"

"A little over a century, I think," he replied absent-minded. "I never took an interest in her."

"I think I was the only female ever of any interest to you." He nodded in assent as warmth graced his otherwise ever cooled eyes.

"I miss you," he spoke for the first time aloud.

"I never left," she replied unimpressed.

"You never spoke before."

She danced her fingers though the split ends of her hair before looking up at him again. "Never had something to say before."

"What do you have to say to me?" he asked. Godric hoped by continuing to engage her she wouldn't leave him so suddenly again.

"I already told you," she said with her hands gripped on the desk leaning forward. "Twice."

"You think I have changed," Godric said as he regarded her earlier comments. "It is for the better, is it not?"

"Light does not cloak the darkness," she whispered. "Especially your darkness. You have strayed too far."

"You were a victim of that darkness," he said disagreeing.

She shook her head. Her dishevelled locks flowing through the air the ends turning white with the light. "Never a victim," she spoke with a hiss. "Eric is not a victim. _Yet_."

"What of Eric?" he said thinking of his remaining child.

"Remember how I was born," she said softly her eyes darting to the side as if there was something to see there.

"I don't wish to," he sighed. Regret flooded his system at the memories, no matter how hard he tried that would never leave him.

"Wishes are for the weak," she said with an unmistakeable strength. "Remember."

"I seek healing in a future now," Godric frowned. "It is not of wishes but of truth."

"Not everyone who claims to speak for a God actually does," she warned as the light that shrouded her dissipated and Godric was left to his eternal solitude once again.

"Cecily," he spoke once more but this time no answer was received.

…

…

….

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed an insight into Godric. FYI Cecily won't be a love interest of Godric's. There's more to her than meets the eye but I'm not writing a Godric/OC story. There are plenty of authors who corner that market very well. Though I enjoy those stories very much to me Godric seemed somewhat asexual when we came across him in True Blood which I link to the assumed depression that plagued him. As I am rewriting from that perspective I stick with that for now.**

**My blog has a character banner if you're interested of how I see Cecily. Check it out at hisviks dot wordpress dot com**

**Due to the impending doom of rumours that is season 7 I have also found the time to write a series of 10 connected one shots similar in style to 'In Memorium/Memento Mori'. It will hopefully give some resolution where I fear the show will be lacking. I'll start posting on Sundays. It will be called 'It's Already Gone.'**


	5. Chapter 4 - No Ordinary Human

"_Remember how I was born," she said softly her eyes darting to the side as if there was something to see there._

"_I don't wish to," he sighed. Regret flooded his system at the memories, no matter how hard he tried that would never leave him._

"_Wishes are for the weak," she said with an unmistakeable strength. "Remember."_

"_I seek healing in a future now," Godric frowned. "It is not of wishes but of truth."_

"_Not everyone who claims to speak for a God actually does," she warned as the light that shrouded her dissipated and Godric was left to his eternal solitude once again. _

"_Cecily," he spoke once more but this time no answer was received. _

Chapter 4 – No ordinary human

Sookie had to work the lunch shift during the day and the lack of sleep and blood loss was wreaking havoc with her mental shields. She had already messed up several orders and Sam had 'suggested' she catch her breath out back. She hated being ordered around even if it was in her best interest. Reluctantly she had gone out back wishing she had a nicotine habit so she didn't feel so useless standing around.

When Lafayette came out to take out some trash she caught him worrying for her in his mind. When she heard his mind skip to the other Stackhouse of Bon Temps Sookie's rage could hardly be contained.

"What the hell are you doing selling Jason V?" Sookie exclaimed. "Or selling V for that matter."

"Fuck Sook," Lafayette replied, "Gets outs of my head."

"Too late," she said aggravated as she gestured for him to get on and explain. The threat of pulling it from his mind if necessary was evident. "What were you thinking? Are you draining vampires?"

"Shit no Sook," Lafayette said affronted. "I have an arrangement with a vampire. He's disappeared though. I've stopped selling since."

She looked at him sceptically until she caught the images from his mind. Sookie grimaced a little at it before she managed to close up her shields again.

"You're making this right Lafayette Reynolds," she said pointedly. "Come to my house after your shift."

Her conversation with Sam went as predicted, he even pulled in Tara to gang up on her. She relented and continued her insistence for her time off and what she was doing with it was none of their business. A threat of quitting was made and knowing her stubbornness Sam finally relented.

Sookie asked Tara to look after her house in her absence and even offering for her to move in permanently. She would consider it while Sookie was gone but she was really enjoying staying with the mysterious Maryann Forrester.

She had a little time left before sunset and she instructed Lafayette to help her pack up her car with the necessary supplies. He reluctantly abided by her wishes and kept his opinions on operation Free Billy to himself. She left a note with instructions for Tara and closed up her house. They walked over to Bill's house through the cemetery. Sookie remarked that she seemed to be living her life in between the living and death in an endless loop that never seemed to let her up to catch her breath. It was mere weeks ago that she was fighting for her own life in this very spot as Rene chased her. The heavy thuds of Lafayette's footsteps slowed them down considerably which meant they found Pam ready and waiting on the porch.

"Hi Pam," Sookie said cheerfully as she bounced up the steps to the Antebellum home. "I brought you a present."

Pam cocked her eyebrow at her in question, "Who's the queen?"

"This is Lafayette," Sookie introduced. "He will feed you tonight after I release your command."

"You brought me a fangbanger?" Pam drawled amused. If she thought it possible she'd be touched at Sookie's gesture.

"I ain't no fangbanger hookah," Lafayette replied annoyed.

"Oh honey, I haven't been called that in quite some time," Pam replied as her fingers tapped away at her crossed over arms. She scented the air differentiating the scent of his blood from the delectable scent that was Sookie's. B negative she discerned, not her favourite flavour but welcome nonetheless. Her continued unrelenting stare was clearly unnerving Lafayette and she let out her fangs with a little hiss to amp up the adrenaline coursing through his veins knowing it would heighten the dull flavour.

"Let's do this Sook, this place gives me the creeps," Lafayette said speaking more of the female vampire than the derelict home.

"Be nice you two," Sookie admonished as she gestured them to sit on the sofa in the living room. Much to Sookie's surprise they obediently sat down next to each other. She moved to stand behind Pam and concentrated on her task at hand.

"For future reference Sookie, the clothing is not that far off but I really do enjoy a donor with less equipment," Pam mused as Sookie placed her hands atop her head.

"Noted, now let me do my thing," she said as she set to work on releasing Pam on the last command Godric had enforced on her through Eric.

"Bitch it's not like yous is my type either," Lafayette snapped back. "Your earrings are killer though."

Pam regarded him with her patented scrutiny. "I like your," she paused before she found the most inoffensive item, "scarf."

"All done," Sookie announced as she released the female vampire from her last remaining restraint. Pam was on Lafayette in an instant and Sookie worried if perhaps she was taking too much as she greedily gulped down Lafayette's blood. She retracted her fangs with a satisfied smile and a still alive Lafayette was stunned into silence for the first time in his life.

"Mmmm, funky," Pam mused as she ran his flavour over her discerning palette. "Witchy."

"We even now Sooks?" Lafayette asked as he felt at his closed up wounds. Sookie nodded and bid him goodbye. He seemed to move out of there quicker than a vampie. Pam soon returned from the bathroom all cleaned up from her 'morning' snack.

"How are you feeling Pam?" Sookie asked as she pulled the last of Bill's Tru Blood supplies from the fridge.

"Better," she replied. "Are we set to go?"

"Yes. Let's take these and leave."

Pam scrutinised Sookie's little yellow rust bucket of a car as they filled it up with the last of their things.

"I think I've been in more reliable cars when this thing was still considered new," Pam said with disdain.

"It's all that's on offer Pam," Sookie replied with a clipped tone. "Unless you want to walk."

Pam looked down at her shoes and briefly considered it but it would be some time before she would be able to reunite with her vast shoe collection. That was a big _if_ at the moment. She reluctantly seated herself in the front passenger seat.

"What's Godric like?" Sookie asked once they were firmly on the road.

"I never met him. Eric hasn't seen him since before he made me," Pam replied. "I only saw him from afar when we were in New Orleans. Eric always had great reverence for his maker. I never thought we'd be in the situation we're in."

"How about Russell Edgington?"

"I met him once when he was still King of Mississippi. Eccentric," Pam shrugged. "He looks unimpressive but radiates power. His consort was entertaining."

"Is he the oldest vampire you ever met?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Feel free to elaborate Pam," Sookie said with an eye roll.

"I've never had to entertain a human before," she replied before thoughtlessly supplying, "Unless it involved sex."

"Just tell me something interesting and I'll respond. Try not to use one word sentences," Sookie informed. "You and Eric seemed to talk just fine amongst yourselves."

"You're not Eric."

"I know," Sookie sighed not wanting to think of his impending fate if they failed to locate the eldest vampire in North America. "Just talk to me about something that's important to you."

"Fine."

"It's a start. I guess," Sookie mumbled to herself. By the time they were slowing down to their intermittent stop in Mississippi Sookie was well informed on the art of footwear. Though most of the names Pam was rolling around her tongue were too foreign sounding for Sookie to store in her own vault. It kept their minds off the situation that would otherwise cast a dark cloud over their travels.

When they reached Jackson Pam instructed Sookie to a meeting point. There Alcide Herveaux would join them. Apparently actual wolves guarded Russell's layer so they would need the help of a werewolf. This made no sense to Sookie but according to Pam it was the most logical thing in the world. Alcide's father was in debt with Eric and she was calling in his marker. He seemed pleasant enough to Sookie his thoughts seemed to be mostly preoccupied with his relationship troubles.

Sookie was surprised Pam didn't upgrade to Alcide's truck. It was certainly nicer. When asked, Sookie was treated to vampire 101 on weres. The gist of it came down to their offensive smell and Pam's suspicion of their hand in the V trade.

When Sookie asked if her smell was offensive too Pam replied it was the sweetest she had ever known. It well made up for the craptastic state that was her car. Sookie tried to take it as a compliment but it was a far reach.

They set up camp at the closest known location of the ancient vampire. Pam sped off in one direction whilst Sookie and Alcide, in wolf form, took to the other. They met back just before dawn neither party finding anything promising. They stood looking over the map again crossing of the caves they had reached.

"We need to expand our search area," Pam observed. "How large is your range sugar lumps?"

"I'm not sure," Sookie replied. "I've never taken my shields down fully."

"Try it," Pam encouraged. "Tell me when you hit the first cluster of minds."

Sookie concentrated on lowering her shields. When they were all but down she hit her first cluster indicating a town of some sort. "Now. South from here," Sookie said. "My shields are not all the way down yet. Another settlement to the north."

"Eight to ten miles then," Pam calculated by the map's scale. "We can work with that. Wolf arrange us a helicopter."

"Pam ask nicely," Sookie admonished.

"Wolf _please _arrange us a helicopter," she all but gritted out.

vVvVvVv

Eric walked through Fangtasia one last time taking it all in. He was never sentimental about buildings or things for that matter. A thousand years showed you the value of immateriality. However, this place had become special to him, it was where he could first truly be himself without repercussion. He took pride in that.

The Great Reveal wasn't something he had been a fervent proponent or opponent of. His indifference was stemmed from the acknowledgement of the necessity in evolving times but he wasn't as disillusioned as some to think this would erupt in a golden age for his kind. He understood the threat humanity could be upon them and vice versa. Had it not been for the Great Reveal his stay in Louisiana would most likely have forced him from the area considering how long he had already resided there. Somewhere he had grown attached to these surroundings.

It was also the place where a young woman in a white dress adorned with little red flowers had entered to alleviate his eternal boredom. He had taken to her instantly not that he would let her know that. No he had observed the enticing creature from afar. He often wondered what would have happened if they had not been interrupted by that raid. Perhaps that pull that existed between them had ignited then as it had two days ago. He vowed if by some slim chance he made it out alive he would change that supply room into a shrine. More magnificent than his throne. He would tell anyone that would listen that that is where his life had changed.

He said goodbye to a place, to a building, to memories cherished. Never had he departed anywhere with such weight in his step. He left instructions to the human guards and handed over his keys. He got into his cherry red corvette and sped down the road. He'd be in New Orleans within five hours. Under normal circumstances his lead foot would lead him in there in three. Tonight he would take his time, rev the engine to make it enjoyable but not to hurry on down.

He arrived to a stripped palace. Eric never had enjoyed the ostentatious taste of Sophie Anne's regime but the sight before him just emitted the impending end. It was depressing. He was never down trodden in his existence, he left that to brooding vampires like Bill Compton. Sookie had ignited some hope in him even though he knew it foolish to entrust in that.

He greeted his master in the new throne room. Eric suspected this used to be a courtyard he had never ventured in before. It was simple and understated with its bare furnishing. It suited his maker who always preferred a hard wooden seat to a plush one.

"It is good to see you again," Godric greeted.

Eric simply nodded continuing to focus on his 'loss' of Pam. It had the intended effect, Godric quickly shut down his side of the bond. Eric never thought he would be using the teachings of his master against him. _Find that grain of weakness and pick at it till it collapses_.

"I seek your assistance with one of the vampires of your area," Godric said as he motioned Eric to sit.

"I am yours to do as you see fit Master," Eric replied sitting down on the uncomfortable bench. Even more so considering his height.

"He has proven himself to be an excellent repenter,"Godric said. Eric groaned internally not needing to hear the name to confirm the vampire's identity.

"Bill Compton," Eric spoke knowingly.

The Civil War veteran had proven himself to be quite the slippery eel. He had spent years in the service of the queen jumping from ship to ship to his advantage. It didn't surprise Eric at all that his 'repention' had happened so soon and so successfully.

"Yes," Godric replied with praise. "He has admitted to some immoral dealings on behalf of the former queen."

"I am not surprised," Eric replied. "He was her procurer until he relocated to my area."

"You are sure he was retired?" Godric asked.

"The palace had confirmed as much when I enquired."

"He has accused you of colluding with the crown," Godric said seriously as he felt the rage boil in his child with his next sentence. "The acquisition of a telepath."

Sookie was the weakness that would fester at him if given the opportunity. His carefully contained emotions of a thousand years blew out at the mere mention of her. It didn't surprise Eric one bit that it would be Bill who would reveal her identity so easily and use it for his own gains.

"Tell me the truth Eric, repent your sins."

"I have nothing to repent," he seethed. "I told you about Sophie Anne's plans to sell our blood. That is the only sin I carry."

"I can feel you speak the truth," Godric returned after some contemplation. "Perhaps you feel you have nothing to apologise for when it comes to the telepath." The rage continued to rile through their bond despite Eric's stoic exterior.

"I will tell you how I came to know about the telepath," Eric offered after he managed to take control over his emotions again. "Bill Compton brought her to my bar and announced her gift to a room full of vampires."

"How did he do that?" Godric asked recording his answers on a legal pad.

"He asked her what everyone was thinking. She answered something about sex then he said at an audible voice for all vampires in the room to hear 'one needn't be telepathic to know that'." His maker motioned for him to continue. "I asked to be introduced and while we were speaking she revealed her gift by informing me we were about to be raided and that a vampire was illegally feeding in the bathrooms."

"What is this I feel from you?" Godric asked. "It is almost like warmth."

"I know less than you," Eric replied shortly. "I requested use of her services when funds had gone missing from Fangtasia. She was able to find the culprit who turned out to be our business partner Long Shadow."

"The telepath can read vampire minds?"

"No," Eric responded shaking his head. "She was able to release the glamour on one of my employees as it had been imposed by Long Shadow. When he realised he was caught he attacked her."

"Why do I feel regret from you?"

"I should have seen to her safety. She is," he paused before he continued and corrected, "was a valuable asset to my retinue. I assumed the thief to be human."

"Bill Compton killed Long Shadow in her defence," Godric said looking at the Magister's file. "He was forced to turn an innocent."

"Yes," Eric said. "I followed the required protocol in reporting the crime."

"Would you have protected the telepath if Compton had not intervened?"

Eric nodded. "I would have been in my right as he had stolen from me. The telepath's life was more valuable than his."

"You do not often come to the defence of a human," Godric noted

"She is no ordinary human."

"The warmth I feel it whenever you speak of her," he said puzzled. "What is her name?"

"Sookie Stackhouse," Eric replied testily, the words rolling with ease off his tongue.

"You care for her?" his maker asked with some surprise.

"She is special to me," he admitted knowing there was no possibility of hiding this from his maker.

"You were pursuing her?" Godric asked. "Romantically."

"As much as was allowed while honouring Compton's claim on her."

"You were his Sheriff," Godric said confused. His son was never one to let things lie untouched. "You could have claimed her from him, especially considering her talent."

"I wanted her to come to me of her own accord," Eric explained with regret. "She is not one to be forced to do anything."

"The honour cultivated in your human days never really dissipated."

"I don't think I would have made it this far without it," Eric shrugged.

"You were unaware of your queen's intentions?"

"I had unconfirmed suspicions." Eric said whilst running his fingers along the bridge of his nose. "Compton's sudden retirement struck me as odd especially when he came into my bar parading a virginal telepath. One he coincidentally found hidden from the world in his former human hometown."

"That would raise suspicion," Godric agreed. "I would expect a former procurer to inform his queen immediately upon discovery."

"He claimed to love her," Eric returned with a slump in his shoulders. "He took no precautions for her protection. He did not bind her to him by blood exchanges only ties. I assumed he had revealed her to me so I could ascertain her effectiveness. I feared he was preparing to sell her off to the highest bidder with my testimony. I had put things in motion to protect her from poaching."

"Such as?" Godric asked pen ready in hand.

"The demon lawyer Cataliades was preparing an employment contract for her. She had agreed to work for free at my disposal as long as any wrongdoings would be handled by human law enforcement where possible. The contract would put her on my company health plan. I knew she was in need of that."

"She must be very special if she managed for you to agree to those terms," Godric chuckled. "I would like to meet her."

"Is that necessary?" Eric asked tensely.

"Yes," Godric replied. "You have confirmed to me my suspicions that Compton was speaking half-truths. I wish to hear from Ms Stackhouse herself. I have already sent the human guards to retrieve her."

**A/N: Start saving up your daggers for Bill, you'll want to use them soon enough. **

**Last time I'm pimping out my newest story **_**It's Already Gone**_** that is up every Sunday in celebration of the magnificent train wreck Season 7 is shaping up to be. **


	6. Chapter 5 – Shifter, French Fry and User

"_He claimed to love her," Eric returned with a slump in his shoulders. "He took no precautions for her protection. He did not bind her to him by blood exchanges only ties. I assumed he had revealed her to me so I could ascertain her effectiveness. I feared he was preparing to sell her off to the highest bidder with my testimony. I had put things in motion to protect her from poaching."_

"_Such as?" Godric asked pen ready in hand._

"_The demon lawyer Cataliades was preparing an employment contract for her. She had agreed to work for free at my disposal as long as any wrongdoings would be handled by human law enforcement where possible. The contract would put her on my company health plan. I knew she was in need of that."_

"_She must be very special if she managed for you to agree to those terms," Godric chuckled. "I would like to meet her."_

"_Is that necessary?" Eric asked tensely._

"_Yes," Godric replied. "You have confirmed to me my suspicions that Compton was speaking half-truths. I wish to hear from Ms Stackhouse herself. I have already sent the human guards to retrieve her."_

Chapter 5 – Shifter, French Fry and User

Sookie lay atop the hotel bed picking at her food. She wasn't very hungry under the circumstances but she forced it down regardless. She had checked in the night before with Alcide and they had snuck in Pam through the window. It was a small town and there hadn't been too many vampire friendly thoughts when they had searched for suitable accommodations. Pam ended up sleeping in the bathtub whilst Sookie guarded her during the had been quite disconcerting when she had to use the toilet with a dead to the world vampire lying next to it.

Pam would be up in a few hours and Sookie hoped Alcide had managed to arrange the helicopter with one of his fellow pack members. He had yet to make contact with her since departing back to Jackson.

She looked over the map of the area they would be searching and she was marking all possible caves. She had wondered how a vampire could live so reclusively without feeding. Pam had explained at his age Russell could feed once a year and it would sustain him without a pang of hunger. He could abstain from feeding for decades before it would truly impact his survival.

From Pam she knew about the mysterious death of his lover's untimely demise. He had simply vanished and the tie that bound them together tethered into nothingness. Russell spent many nights desperately searching. Not even their shared blood could locate him. His reign suffered and he was exceptionally cruel to anyone that would even dare suggest Talbot was no more.

It wasn't long before he could only tolerate the company of his second in command. One day during his day rest he felt the brief imprint of their bond dissipate into its final death. The blood bath left behind did nothing to alleviate his grief and the AVL had forged some sort of deal with his exile leaving his former second in charge. Lost in thought of the mysterious ancient vampire her lids fell heavy, resting them for but a short while.

Sookie startled awake from her unintended nap as the door she was resting against opened and the momentum had her flat on her back on the cool tile floor. Pam simply looked down on her as if it was the most natural position to find a human in. Considering her contact with humanity was mostly through her bar it wasn't that far off her normal.

"Sookie," she informed. "Alcide just texted. He'll be at the prearranged spot within the hour."

"I'm sorry I fell asleep Pam," Sookie replied rubbing at her eyes. "I know your safety is important."

"No one knew I was here," she shrugged. "Besides I need you at your best tonight. Have you eaten?" Sookie replied she had and they quickly departed the room. Pam via the window and Sookie through the door.

"So when are you going to accept you're mine poppet?" Pam said as she was nursing another vile synthetic concoction. They were seated in Sookie's car at the agreed meeting point awaiting Alcide's arrival. Sookie shifted uncomfortably at the blonde vampire's declaration.

"I'm not your anything Pam," Sookie said with apparent annoyance. "Technically I'm still Bill's."

"That is a bit of a technicality," Pam replied with heavy sarcasm dripping of the individual vowels. "Just like the first time he proclaimed that."

"What?" Sookie asked confused, scowling at Pam's taunting quirked brow.

"His claim on you was unfounded the first night in Fangtasia," Pam continued in her monotone voice till it quipped up towards the end, "I smelled your innocence a mile away. It was delicious!"

"If that is what it means to be yours," Sookie said with a glaring eye roll, "then rest assured Pam that is _never_ going to happen."

"If you're not mine when we meet Russell he'll snatch you up on sight. You smell too damn delicious," she said with a fangy grin. Sookie shivered uncomfortably at the sight of its appearance.

"Fine," she gritted out. "Only around Russell will I accept your claim. No biting and especially none of the other stuff."

Pam smiled with glee at her momentary triumph. "What about my master?"

"Eric?" she asked at which Pam nodded. "I guess I'm a little bit his too."

"So not technically then?"

"I don't know," Sookie sighed with her mind flustered, she really didn't want to think about the ramifications of it all. "Can I belong to two vampires at once or does one cancel the other out?"

"Yes. A human can belong to more than vampire. Not if one of the vampires is Eric though," Pam said as she thoughtfully tapped the corner of her mouth with her index finger. "I guess he does cancel the other one out." She finished with a menacing smile at the thought of her maker taking out Bill Compton.

"What do you have against Bill anyway?" Sookie asked. She had asked Bill but he had evaded answering her at the time.

Pam looked a little piqued. "Let's just say I knew him when I was still a human. It was not pleasant."

Sookie decided to leave it at that. She wanted to know more but Pam really wasn't turning out to be the sharing type. It was like pulling at teeth or perhaps fangs in this case and Pam's were especially sharp.

"How did you and the mouseketeer meet anyway?" Pam drawled in an effort to maintain a conversation through the deafening silence. It was still decidedly strange to Pam to interact with a human without the physical pay-out. She wondered if this is what being a vegetarian was like.

Sookie shared the details of their first encounter and all that had happened after. Pam was initially impressed as she listened to Sookie's recollection of how she saved the surly vampire from a drainer's fate. Though in her opinion Sookie should have just left him to the drainers, and that was a first for Pam. Her façade turned to stone when she heard of the next night's events. Apparently little had changed with Bill Compton since she first met him.

The helicopter arrived as promised and they quickly got in with a snoring Alcide. Sookie assumed he must be really tired if he could sleep through the noise of the chopper. The pilot introduced himself as Logan Chase and they quickly hovered off to navigate the expansive area.

Pam instructed the pilot on the area they would circle first as Sookie concentrated on any detection of a void. Thankfully the pilots mind was preoccupied with flying and Alcide seemed to be dreaming about puppies.

They had been flying for hours. Some areas were marked as potential spots but Sookie had yet to find something definitive. The following night proved to be more successful.

"There," Sookie said through the microphone of the headset as she pointed into the darkness. "Wait he's gone." She continued to focus her mind till she found him moving at great speed.

"He's moving due north," Sookie said as she located his direction. "Follow him."

"No," Pam said halting the pilot beside her. "He might think we're chasing him. You'll have to return during the day to locate his resting place."

Sookie nodded as Pam directed the pilot to take them to Jackson where she could spend the day safely in a vampire hotel whilst Sookie would set out with the set of weres again.

They arrived with a few hours before dawn. Sookie collapsed into the heavenly bed as soon as she saw it. Pam partook, with great fulfilment, in the hotel's available donors. When Sookie saw the bill the next day she assumed Pam had cleaned out their entire donor pool.

vVvVvVv

Eric rose early in his new surroundings, he could feel his maker's presence but their bond was subdued. He was pacing, an uncommon act for his maker. Godric had always been light on his feet but they stood steady regardless. Although he had to wonder in the situation Eric now found himself in, how well he really knew his maker anymore. Centuries of mutual trust and affection had existed between them but it seemed Godric had discovered a new version of himself. Eric no longer found recognition in the maker that had discovered him mortally wounded that fateful night.

The wound he was festering at to protect Pam had given him an insight he never possessed before. Godric had spoken of Cecily once and only because Eric had asked if he had ever sired any other children. Godric had shut the bond down completely. At that time in his training as a newly born vampire that was not unusual occurrence, so he had not thought of it much. Eric had still been a little rash, erratic most nights. Though he had great control and restraint as a human in his vampire form he had to regain those teachings and apply them to his new state.

He continued to sense his maker's turmoil and as Godric's noticed Eric's attention he promptly called on him with his maker's call.

"What is weighing so heavy on your mind?" Eric asked as he was granted access to his chambers.

"No one has heard from the men who I sent to retrieve Ms Stackhouse," he sighed. "You said she would not be forced to do anything. Is she capable of harming my men?"

Eric grinned a little at the thought. Yes the little blonde spitfire was capable of a lot, especially when she or her loved ones were threatened. The news of her slaying a serial killer with a shovel had raised his esteem of her to considerable heights. Eric only regretted not being informed of the threat to his personal asset at the time. Sookie had fought valiantly and carried her wounds with pride. He worried not for her location, he knew through his remaining faint tie to Pam that they were in northern Mississippi now.

"Sookie can be defensive but she would not take on an entire contingent of your guards," Eric responded assuredly. "If they were reasonable she would come willingly. She came to Fangtasia whenever I summoned her through Bill."

"I have heard things about this town before in the past. Supernatural activities, there is rumoured to be a portal there." Godric sat thoughtfully patting the hard seat beside him for Eric to join as he ran through his afternoon musings again.

"A fae portal?" Eric asked as it finally dawned on him. It wasn't because he was starving that had made her taste so good. She was part fae. "I have been to the town once, I didn't register anything unusual."

Godric had stopped listening as his phone rang and he was informed the second group of guards had not reported back. He didn't need to inform his child as he overheard the phone conversation perfectly.

"This does not sit right with me," Godric said pensively. "We will fly out to Bon Temps at sundown."

"As you wish master," he replied happy to be able to come along to divert attentions if necessary. With a small bow he departed from the room to change into clothes that would withstand the high speeds of flight. The linen tunics everyone was now forced to wear would fall to threads in minutes. Eric was glad to be out of them, it felt like he was at the tamest pyjama party he'd ever attended and they had yet to locate a pair where the hemlines reached to his ankles.

They hovered over the town that was sprawled in disarray. Crowds of humans were recklessly violating property, sound and each other. When the two vampires descended down they observed that the humans' eyes had glazed over into pools of black. Upon taking notice the humans they immediately writhed towards them begging to be bitten, Eric had yet to see this level of desperation at Fangtasia. Godric pulled out a small penknife and scratched a bit of skin from one of the willing donors. He sniffed at it before gently nudging the humans in another direction.

"My prophecy it has come true," Godric said with satisfaction and wonder. Eric couldn't contain the grain of disbelief at his lofty words. "You still doubt me," his maker said dejected at the detection of it through the bond.

"You have raised a rational being," Eric offered apologetically though he did not feel it. That probably hurt Godric more than the doubt Eric continued to hold onto. "I can follow you blindly wherever you lead me to. This is just not my cause."

"It is yours too," Godric said insistently. "You were a rational being before me." He regarded the mayhem around them. "This will prove to the rational beings of my faith. Of our destiny," he spoke aloud. The words were meant for his child but he mostly spoke to himself. They were too abstract for Eric to understand regardless in his great levelheadedness.

Eric followed his maker's gaze as they took in the devastation of the town. He had seen this sight often in his many lifetimes. Destruction was as much a part of creation on this earth. Whether caused by supernaturals or the human race itself it was an endless cycle. Eric had long seen it for what it was. Action needed reaction and it oscillated back and forth continually. This was no different from any other incident of ruin he had witnessed despite his maker's devout convictions.

"What of this Cyrus?" Eric asked wanting to know what was causing this. Godric continued to refer to the threat from his prophecy with this ancient name of an invader of the North. Whatever the threat may be Eric still felt responsible for the area despite the loss of his enacting title.

"A maenad," Godric spoke fervently.

"They cannot be defeated," Eric said drawing on his maker's own teachings. "They are as eternal as the gods they worship."

"The prophecy foretold I would defeat the undefeatable," Godric said with joy in his eyes. It was the first time Eric had ever noted such an expression inside his maker. "Do you have any allies here?"

"Aside from Sookie there is a shifter who runs the local bar," Eric offered.

"I will look for Sookie and the maenad. You seek out the shifter," Godric commanded. They floated up and Eric pointed out Sookie's home before he took off in the opposite direction. He landed in the deserted area of the parking lot. He sensed a collection of heartbeats inside, they were fast and erratic.

Three steadier heartbeats accompanied them. Their loaded guns greeted him as he suddenly appeared in the kitchen. He smirked with his fangs out at the lacklustre threat. He recognised the shifter Sam Merlotte but not the other two. The blonde one smelt vaguely of Sookie, Eric's blood raged a little at the thought that Sookie had been with this man too until he looked closer.

This must be the brother Pam had told him about. He had unfinished business with him and by the fear wafting from the colourful one, the same went for him. Strangely enough he smelled vaguely of Pam. Upon closer inspection he recognised her fang marks. They were hard to miss were it not for his dark skin. Pam was still a messy eater despite her age, there was little remedy for it now he reflected wistfully. Without Eric to remedy it, her puncture marks would continue to mark the delicate necks of the women of the world.

"Northman," the shifter spoke in recognition as he lowered his weapon and indicated the other two to follow suit.

"Why are you three unaffected by the maenad?" Eric asked curiously. "And why do you have a freezer full of teacup humans."

"I assumed I am unaffected because of my _weekend behaviour,_" Sam said with pleading eyes. "I am unsure about them."

"You," he said pointing to the blonde one, "are Sookie's brother, correct?"

"Yeah man, I am. Jason Stackhouse," he said offering his hand, "You a friend of vampire Bill."

Eric looked down at the hand with disdain which limply fell back to his side. "Far from it," he replied. "I am a _friend_ of Sookie's."

"Right, cool."

"What were you doing with my progeny?" Eric asked his attention now on the last unknown male.

"Sookie made me feed her," he replied nervously. The two of them were hiding something, he should have spent his time glamouring it out of them and seek appropriate retribution. However those days had passed now that his Sheriff duties lay forgotten. He chuckled a little at the thought of the little Southern Belle offering refreshments to his child like a good hostess in the form of the colourful character before him.

"Did she give her your blood?" Eric asked with a discerning look as Lafayette still carried her scent when he knew Pam had left days ago. He nervously shook 'no' like one of those amusing bobble heads in response. Eric didn't need to glamour the truth from the nervous duo their guilt was written all over them. Dealer and User he concluded. Former user he corrected, which was an unusual occurrence. His existence seemed to be filled with those now.

Eric moved into the dealer's personal space and he froze solid with the vampire's intense scrutiny. Eric dragged his nose over his sweaty skin scenting deeply. "Witchy," he remarked disregarding the undertone of fried foods.

"That's what she said," the fry cook stumbled out nervously to which Jason laughed automatically. The warning look from Sam was the only thing that shut him up before Eric's threatening gaze descended on him again.

"Dealer and user," he said as he pointed to the two of them as he watched them pale and nervously caress the butts of their weapons. "Under normal circumstances your heads would be on a pike," Eric threatened leaving no room for doubt. "Right now I don't give a shit, I am in need of your assistance." Before he managed to explain what he would need of them Eric doubled over in agony.

"Fuck," he roared as the pain coursed through him from his maker's bond into him before he managed to close it down to the bare minimum. "Eyes to me," he commanded all three men who immediately did as they were told even writhing on the floor in pain they knew this was not a vampire to disobey. He intricately glamoured them about Sookie's supposed whereabouts before rising up onto his feet again.

"Stay here I will return," he warned leaving no room for objections before he took flight with great haste.

He swiftly arrived outside Sookie's home, which seemed to be serving as Maenad central. Eric had never visited her home before, only having passed it on his way to retrieve Bill Compton for the magister. He disregarded the hedonistic orgy and bull headed woman around the bonfire in search for his maker. He located Godric stumbling down the steps of the porch. Without hesitation he sped to him and flew him back to Merlotte's.

"What did she do to you master?" Eric asked mid-flight as he cradled his maker's small form to his own body. For this moment he couldn't care that the maker he loved without question was lost in his religion. He needed him to be well no matter what the cost, that loyalty would never die in him.

"I bit her," Godric spoke softly tampering down on his agony.

"Her blood is poison," Eric scolded as if he was his senile parent that needed admonishing like a child.

"Yes," he sighed dejected. "Even to me."

Eric didn't say anything. Godric's unquestioned belief in his own prophecy had left his maker vulnerable to himself. It reassured Eric that ration was not something to put aside for blind faith. He hoped, perhaps in vain, that this would allow his maker to understand the error of his ways.

"Shifter, French Fry guard the doors," Eric commanded when he flew into the kitchen with his maker clutched to his chest. He waved at one of the teacups peering out of the freezer before scaring the child back in when he descended his fangs in display. A chorus of excited squeals erupted from the freezer before Jason told them all to calm down.

"User," he said addressing Jason. "Feed him."

"There isn't any Tru Blood here," Jason said.

"For fuck's sake," Eric growled as he grabbed Jason by the wrist and sunk his fangs in. It was apparent to him Sookie's natural intelligence had clearly evaded Jason in the gene pool. Jason cried out in pain at the sensation of it whilst the blood sprayed around them.

"No," Godric spoke strongly through his agonising pain. He held back the impending wrist from reaching his mouth. "I am still fasting."

"Illness should allow for an exception," Eric tried to reason tightening his hold over the bleeding limb to avoid waste. Godric had not seen such a plea in his child's eyes since he was newly turned and he had disallowed Eric to partake in his favoured pleasures.

"The poison will pass," Godric reasoned as he restrained his nostrils from taking in the scent of the dripping blood in the air. It was taking all of his strongest will to give in to the temptation of it. "I will heal soon enough,"

"You wish to leave the town to her mercy whilst you heal? It will take you weeks without blood," Eric reasoned with a grave tone. He continued by trying to placate to his vanity, "How will you fulfil your prophecy without your full strength."

Godric felt a small surge of pride. His son seemed to be losing his doubt, acknowledging his prophecy. It gave him hope and allowed himself to see the argument his child was presenting.

"He is unwilling," Godric sighed still resisting with his newly found moral objections.

"This one owes us blood," Eric said to his maker before addressing Jason. "Your debt will be settled between you and I."

"Take it," Jason said without hesitation thrusting his wrist in Godric's direction. He reluctantly nodded and took in the deliciously sweet blood. Eric scented that it was not unlike Sookie's, be it a less concentrated version. Considering how long his maker had not fed it would most assuredly taste like ambrosia. It was a shot in the dark from him but a shot nonetheless.

When Godric had his fill he instructed his child to seal the wounds. Eric noted his maker lingered a little in the sensation of the flavour but guilt soon took hold of his maker's emotions.

"Why are there children here?" Godric asked when he finally took stock of his surroundings.

"We're protecting them from the rest of the town," Sam responded. "Can you get us out of here I have a supply truck out back. We couldn't fight of the crowd with just the three of us."

"Yes, we will retreat to Fangtasia," Godric acquiesced, reasserting the sensations in his body as his full strength returned to him slowly. "But tell me where I can find Sookie Stackhouse first."

…

…

**A/N: Happy 4****th**** of July to the Americans among you and a happy Friday for the rest of us. Next week will see a continuance of the diverging storylines but there will be a bit of a shuffle in cast. A little note about the maenad: I, like many of you, was never a fan of the storyline on the show so the interaction with her is limited. She doesn't reappear for at least a couple of chapters but is an important vehicle to Godric's prophecy. **

**For those of you who have found my stories through my winning entry for Sephrenia's writing challenge, **_**In Memorium**_** and **_**Memento Mori**_**, I am happy to announce it has found a continuing story. I will start posting it from Tuesdays onwards under the title **_**From Time Immemorial. **_


	7. Chapter 6 - Stains

**A/N:** **Apologies, due to my own inattentiveness the final part of the previous chapter wasn't copied along to the final document. I have entered this under a separate chapter and fleshed it out a bit so it could stand on its own. So enjoy the small bonus chapter this week.**

…

"_Take it," Jason said without hesitation thrusting his wrist in Godric's direction. He reluctantly nodded and took in the deliciously sweet blood. Eric scented that it was not unlike Sookie's, be it a less concentrated version. Considering how long his maker had not fed it would most assuredly taste like ambrosia. It was a shot in the dark from him but a shot nonetheless._

_When Godric had his fill he instructed his child to seal the wounds. Eric noted his maker lingered a little in the sensation of the flavour but guilt soon took hold of his maker's emotions. _

"_Why are there children here?" Godric asked when he finally took stock of his surroundings._

"_We're protecting them from the rest of the town," Sam responded. "Can you get us out of here I have a supply truck out back. We couldn't fight of the crowd with just the three of us."_

"_Yes, we will retreat to Fangtasia," Godric acquiesced, reasserting the sensations in his body as his full strength returned to him slowly. "But tell me where I can find Sookie Stackhouse first_."

Chapter 6 - Stains

Eric directed the truck to one of his larger homes that was nearest Bon Temps after convincing his maker Fangtasia was no place for children. The children had settled into the beds, which had never been previously used, whilst the adults congregated on the lower floor.

"I will see you upon you return," Godric spoke to his son as he saw him out the door. Eric nodded and flew off towards New Orleans per his maker's instructions. Godric turned his attentions to the other newly arrived guests inside.

"You have a beautiful home," Sarah offered politely as she was eyeing the blonde man who seemed intent on emptying out the entire fridge with his stomach.

"It is my child's home," Godric offered with a polite smile. "I will tell him of your appreciations. I am glad you were able to come to our aid so soon."

"It is lucky we were in the area when you told us of the children," Steve responded whilst he appraised the cost of all the fixtures and furnishings of the room. With glee in his head he knew all these riches would soon belong to him and his church. It would go a long way to ridding the earth of this sin. "Sarah and I will look after them as if they were our own."

"We can't wait to have children," Sarah gushed.

"It is quite the miracle," Godric agreed as he gazed down at Sarah's flat stomach and placed his hand on it. "Life born right inside here."

"Oh yes," Sarah gasped albeit at the sight of the blonde man spilling his glass of water all over his white t-shirt.

"For as long as I have been alive I have only witnessed a human birth once," Godric noted with some sadness.

"Perhaps Sarah and I should get on it sooner," Steve chuckled with a false smile as he forced Sarah's body to pull her gaze from the fool's performance in the open plan kitchen. "You could witness ours before the end."

"I do not think we have that much time," Godric said with some regret.

"The lord has spoken to you again?" Steve asked carefully. He didn't put much stock in Godric's conversations with God. However, if there was a voice inside the ancient vampire's head telling him that it was his purpose to rid the world of vampires, Steve Newlin would happily attribute this as God with the vampire. The idea that God would actually speak with a vampire was preposterous of course.

"Not yet," Godric clarified. "But I feel it cannot be long now that I have found the Cyrus."

Steve nodded, "The Soldiers of the Sun are at your disposal to help rid the world of this creature of Satan."

"Thank you," Godric spoke humbly. He continued to show the Newlins around the expansive house and left them in their own bedroom. It was still hours before dawn so he joined the band of misfits downstairs after bidding the couple goodnight.

He asked them about Sookie and was pleased to hear them speak so highly of her. They were not so fond of Bill Compton. Especially Sam Merlotte, the feelings he harboured for the telepath and the vampire that appeared to hold here heart were hard to miss. They were all protective of her, Godric gathered she had a rough time growing up. It didn't surprise him at all that the three other supernatural beings in the town would be so quick to come to her defence.

It was only Godric and the telepath's brother that remained behind when the other two had retired to bed. Jason was never much of an early sleeper and he still felt the need to be able to come to the defences of the town's children despite the apparent safety of the secluded mansion.

"Do you need something?" Jason asked as he was trying to figure out how the entertainment set worked. Whacking away at the multitude of buttons was yet to yield a satisfying result. "More blood?" he asked tentatively looking up to the ancient vampires sullen eyes.

"You should not turn down such a generous offer," Cecily said her nose running along the posterior triangle of Jason's neck. "This is the best blood I have ever smelled."

"You can smell?" Godric asked almost dumbfounded by the mysterious ways of the apparition.

"Eh yeah," Jason said confused. "Humans can smell and taste."

"Of course," Godric replied his eyes intent on Cecily who continued to stroke at Jason. "My mind wandered. Apologies." Jason merely nodded as he continued trying to figure out the workings of the remote.

"Father this is right," Cecily said as she doused herself in Jason's natural perfume. "This is best," she moaned in delight not taking her eyes off of her maker. Jason's skin erupted with tiny goose bumps trailing behind her touch.

Her delicate porcelain hands caressed down his chest. "Papà he's perfect," she purred as her hands ghosted down to his cock. "We can have so much fun with him."

Godric tried to steel himself as his fangs slowly willed themselves down at the prospect. He hadn't been interested or enticed by sex in centuries. Quickly Godric started reciting the texts of his spiritual books under his breath in attempt to stifle the urge.

"Ever feel like something is watching you?" Jason said as he shifted uncomfortably wondering why he suddenly seemed to be responding sexually to the male vampire's gaze.

"All the time," Godric replied as he finally came back to himself.

vVvVvVv

In the light of day the helicopter hovered over the area where Sookie had first spotted the ancient void. They finally found what they presumed was his resting cave not far north from the original sighting and marked it on the map. The two werewolves affirmed that wolves could be sensed and smelt nearby. The helicopter and its exhausted occupants landed in Jackson just after sunset to pick up Pam and replenish their empty stomachs.

Sookie and her weres ate contentedly in the hotel restaurant as Pam partook in another round with the donors. Sookie was getting rather anxious to get back north and was heavily stocking up on gallons of coffee. However, she couldn't begrudge Pam her spoils after having gone without for so long.

"What's a sweet girl like you doing with the likes of Eric Northman anyway?" Alcide asked as he chowed down on his second plate piled high with food.

The hotel restaurant with a buffet proved to be an instant hit with the weres. They took to it with as much glee as Pam to her pool of donors. Sookie didn't know anyone could eat this much but she was informed it was a were thing. How Alcide's girlfriend could be so skinny with these appetites was puzzling to Sookie.

She wondered if Alcide's mind just remembered her that way. Sookie knew a lot of people did that. Loved ones became more beautiful in the minds of their beholders. She'd been at the opposite end of it. She was honest about her own appearance. Pretty at best. In the minds of her fellow town dwellers she ranged from anything from life sized Barbie to freak of nature.

"Who says I'm sweet?" she sassed back whilst plunging her fork into a ripe strawberry.

"Your plate for starters," Logan remarked dryly gesturing at her plate full of desserts. At her miffed look the two weres bellowed out in laughter.

"Not that's it any of your business but the vampires of Louisiana need my help," she spoke a little testily finding no humour in the situation. Sookie had to remind herself that she needed to be polite to the two men who had been nothing but helpful so far.

"You just don't seem the fangbanging type," Logan shrugged apologetically.

"That's cause I'm not," she returned, although Sookie had to seriously reconsider that statement at a more stable point in time.

_Vampire aficionado_ _perhaps?_

"Why are you two so happy to work for vampires if you all hate each other so much?" she asked trying to turn the heat away from her person. Having heard Pam's side of the argument she was curious to hear how the weres positioned themselves between their interspecies relations.

"Cash is green no matter who it comes from," Logan said as he attacked a piece of sausage. Sookie smiled as she saw him playing happily with his children in his mind. A pragmatic attitude was indeed one she could respect in all situations.

"I don't discriminate," Alcide said with a small shrug. "I hate all the groups of supernaturals equally."

Sookie looked at him with confusion. She knew he wasn't really helping out of the kindness of his generous heart. His father's debt was apparently large enough to cover days of helicopter hire if it had been necessary. It was only at Sookie's insistence that Pam had agreed to pay Logan his usual fee and not the discounted cost rate Alcide would have been paying.

"You're like a self-hating supe?" Sookie asked still baffled by his statement. Somewhere she had taken a little offense herself, her telepathy had made her an outsider all her life. As little as she knew of the supernatural world she did know that it made more sense for her to belong among them than with the humans she grew up amidst.

"When you're a kid everyone wants a superpower," Alcide answered eyeing a new pan of food being installed at the buffet table. "It's not so fun when you're the only one that actually does. One day you're normal the next day you're not." Sookie understood the sentiment she had lived it herself after all. That was even without the support of family and a pack that understood.

"That still doesn't explain why you hate everyone else," Sookie remarked finishing up her éclair.

"Hate's a little strong perhaps," Alcide supposed with a tiny shrug of his shoulders. "It's more the dislike of the obligations and etiquette that's demanded of us. I didn't choose this and I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy."

Sookie nodded not probing him further as he disappeared to the buffet again. She had read from his mind that his dreams about puppies were no coincidence. It was the reason he was fighting with his girlfriend all the time. He refused to father children with her, not willing to bring another were into the world. Sookie wondered if his puppy dreams were his nature fighting him on his decision too or if it was just what happened to be plaguing his subconscious.

"Don't mind Alcide," Logan offered. "He's a lot less doom and gloom when the Mrs isn't riding him."

Sookie gave him a polite smile. She didn't give it much more thought as a familiar void moved into her telepathic range.

"Eric," she gasped as she flung herself at his familiar form.

Pam was beside them in an instant completely unabashed as she stood there without a stitch of clothing on. Eric merely quirked his brow at her as the fresh blood still dripped from her fangs. He didn't want to know what kind of mess she had left behind now.

"Master," she greeted with a satisfied smile. The hotel was apparently well versed with vampires as in an instant Pam was handed a robe to cover herself. She placated the human staff by putting it on with a fangy scowl.

"I see you're enjoying your new found freedom," he smirked at his beloved progeny.

"Eric are _you_ free?" Sookie asked holding on tightly to his chest. She had completely missed Pam's grand entrance as she basked herself in the familiar scent of his body. "Did he let you go?"

"No," Eric replied regretfully running his nose along the golden crown of her hair. He had vowed to enjoy every moment of time granted with her. The Corvette had never been tested to its farthest limits as it had tonight under his insistent foot. "Unfortunately I am here to bring you to New Orleans."

"What?" she mumbled into his shirt with a hint of apprehension.

"Don't worry you will be safe with _me_," Eric explained as he soothingly ran his hands over her back. The only three beings that could have revealed anything of their usurping plans had been glamoured within an inch of their life. Eric had been annoyed that there was a loose end with a woman named Tara but according to her cousin she was lost to the maenad now. The visit to Bon Temps had proven to be quite effective in all. "There is a situation with Compton."

Sookie stiffened in Eric's hold at the mention of her boyfriend's name. She chastised herself for not even asking after him or his fate. Worse, not even thinking about him.

"Perhaps we should convene somewhere more private," Eric suggested as the dining room continued to stare at their strange assembly. Nor did he wish to discuss this any further in a public forum even if there were no other vampires within hearing range.

They moved to Sookie's room leaving the weres to polish off the rest of their meal. Sookie sat down on the corner of the bed, to which Eric quickly sat beside her and pulled her onto his lap. She sat awkwardly as he ran his nose along her neck taking in her unique smell that he finally could place. It was even more satisfying than he could remember.

Not interested in their little reunion Pam started pacing the floor and briefing her maker on their progress in locating Russell Edgington. Eric was impressed that they had been able to find a possible location so quickly. He commended Pam on her ingenuity of using a helicopter in conjunction with Sookie's telepathy. When Pam was finished getting him up to speed he dismissed her to leave with the weres to seek out the oldest vampire on the continent.

She enquired with her maker in Swedish what Godric wanted with Sookie and he informed her on what he wouldn't be able to tell Sookie right now. Before leaving Pam took Sookie aside in the hallway out of Eric's hearing range under the gesture of a private goodbye.

"Sookie I like you," Pam started with an admission never before gritted out so insincerely. Knowing Pam for a few nights now, Sookie understood this was probably the most sincere she would ever get.

"I like you too, Pam," Sookie responded whilst quickly adding, "Just not in _that _way."

"Yes, you keep reminding me," Pam said rolling her eyes at the little telepath who was yet to succumb to any of her offered charms. "I'm telling you this to keep everyone safe. View me as your council."

"What are you trying to say to me?" Sookie asked worried, wondering if Eric was speaking the truth that she would truly be safe with him. After all _his_ own safety was not a guarantee yet.

"The things you told me about the mouseketeer," she warned forebodingly. "Keep them to yourself unless Godric asks you about it. Under no circumstances tell Eric without his maker present."

She looked at Pam with brows furrowed, "Why?"

"Because as your council I advise you to do so."

Sookie huffed in annoyance at her inability to share. "Trust me on this honey pie," Pam drawled out in her exaggerated concocted Southern accent. "You'll understand when the time is right."

"Fine," she exhaled. "Make sure you find that vampire, I'm counting on you." Pam simply nodded attentively before whizzing off to her own room.

"Goodbye, to you too," Sookie grumbled after the already departed form.

Eric stirred from his downtime when Sookie returned to the room. He smiled at the sight of her, this point of light that was giving him hope beyond what he could have ever expected. Sookie didn't think she'd ever seen him smile like that. Smirk annoyingly, yes in copious amounts. This was different, it was like a smile reserved just for her. Sookie couldn't take any joy from it though, as her mind was still plagued with thoughts of Bill. Their comfortable silence that kept them suspended in inaction was momentarily interrupted by the familiar sounds of Eric's phone.

"You have found her so soon?" Godric asked not bothering with a greeting to his son.

"Yes, master," Eric responded keeping kind eyes on a worried Sookie, "She is here with me now and has agreed to come meet with you."

"I fear we have much to make up to her," Godric said with regret. "I have located Sophie Anne's files on Ms Stackhouse."

"It is as we feared then," Eric returned with disgust.

"It is worse than I thought," Godric explained as his eyes fell over the extensive file. "I am glad you told me of Sophie Anne's activities before I became aware of this. I would not have been able to live with this stain resting on our kind had she succeeded. I fear her death would not have been as compassionate as I had allowed it to be."


	8. Chapter 7 - Guilt

**A/N: This chapter is a little longer than normal due to my inability to copy and paste like a normal person last week. In case you didn't notice there was an extra chapter last week because of that mistake. On with the story...**

"_You have found her so soon?" Godric asked not bothering with a greeting to his son._

"_Yes, master," Eric responded keeping kind eyes on a worried Sookie, "She is here with me now and has agreed to come meet with you."_

"_I fear we have much to make up to her," Godric said with regret. "I have located Sophie Anne's files on Ms Stackhouse."_

"_It is as we feared then," Eric returned with disgust. _

"_It is worse than I thought," Godric explained as his eyes fell over the extensive file. "I am glad you told me of Sophie Anne's activities before I became aware of this. I would not have been able to live with this stain resting on our kind had she succeeded. I fear her death would not have been as compassionate as I had allowed it to be."_

Chapter 7 - Guilt

"Fuck," Eric growled out as he hung up the phone. Only barely containing himself, his maker would interpret it as anger over Sophie Anne and Bill's actions. In truth the anguish was retained for himself. The two month old top of the line smartphone didn't stand a chance at survival as the thousand year old vampire hurled it to its death against the solid wall.

"What's wrong?" Sookie asked hesitantly when the last of the pieces fell to the floor and a deafening silence fell upon the room.

He sighed as his head dropped into his hands. "It's all my fault," he whispered out in the most defeated tone Sookie had ever heard come from a man. The Big Bad Ass Vampire Sheriff of Area five was gone and in his place sat an innocent child bearing the responsibility of the world on his fragile shoulders.

She carefully reached out to hold his shaking wrists as she moved between his turned out legs by the edge of the bed. "Tell me," she said softly. "Please?"

"He's doing this because of me," Eric said barely containing his anger. Her tentative touch being the only thing that stopped him from detonating at full blast. "I was the one that told him about my queen's dealing. She was selling of our blood to pay her debts. I had no choice to obey as her sheriff. This is what made him come to New Orleans."

Sookie moved his wrists away from their hold of his face placing them around her own waist so she could hold him in an embrace. With the news of her meeting Godric, Eric had assumed she would be the one that needed comforting tonight but here her generous heart was giving him more than he ever thought to deserve.

"It's all my fault," he whispered into her golden hair that was scented with the memory of the lingering sun and kerosene. Despite the nasty fumes of the helicopter it was like heaven to him in combination with the call of her blood to his parched fangs.

He wanted nothing more desperately than to take her on this soft bed that smelled of just her so he could forget for a fleeting moment that his world was falling to pieces faster than the splintering of his former phone. Eric couldn't be afforded that privilege while his maker was awake and he would be unable to hide the scent of her on his body in Godric's vicinity. This is as close that they would be able to get for a long while and perhaps forever.

"Listen to me," she said firmly as she pulled his face up towards her. "Whatever he does, it's his choice. His doing. His judgement before God. You are a victim in this."

"I'm not a victim," he said with distaste, barely containing the snarl he wanted to express with the accusation. By informing his maker of Sophie Anne's actions Eric was convinced hehad set all these actions in motion. "Never a victim."

"A survivor then," she offered gently, the anger at her unintended insult not phasing her in the least. "We're going to see this through for the greater good."

"Such vast words from such a small being," he replied as he received a kiss on his forehead. His body calming under her touch and her words. Godric had taught him to be a survivor above else and now Eric understood that could even include his own maker.

"I prefer it to small words from such a large being," she smirked back in return, satisfied to see a barely breaching smile on his face. "I assume he's expecting us."

He affirmed her suspicions and they departed, making it back to New Orleans within two hours. She held her hand on top of his the whole journey as it rested on her knee. They listened to the radio but barely spoke a word.

It was just past midnight when they were received in Godric's throne room. The room was filled with a whole host of vampires in white linen tunics and matching pants. Sookie thought she had entered a cult and considering the religious teachings Godric was preaching she probably wasn't that far off in her assessment.

She recognised Godric instantly, she remembered Pam's comment about Russell radiating power. The same could be said for the ancient vampire who appeared to be a young teenager. He looked kind and perhaps a little melancholy, almost ethereal. When she had heard Sam, Eric or Pam speak of the creature named Godric this was the last image she had conjured up.

"My liege," Eric said as he kneeled down in front of his maker's throne. "May I present to you Ms Sookie Stackhouse."

"Ms Stackhouse," he greeted "I have heard much about you."

"Likewise," she replied curtly.

Godric chuckled lightly. He understood his child's attraction for her, she had a spirit that was both fire and ice. Radiating together in a light as clear as crystal. She didn't take kindly to his amusement as she continued to stare him down desperately trying to watch the words she was holding. She wanted to scream and yell how wrong this all was but that would help no one.

"Please sit," he said motioning to a seat beside him. She sat down demurely thinking it was a bit of a déjà vu moment reminiscent of her first encounter with Eric and Pam. "I trust your travel went pleasantly."

"As much as possible with a vampire at the wheel," she responded forgetting to filter her thoughts just like she had her first night in Fangtasia. Eric had sincerely frightened her to death with his high speed driving skills and Bill had hardly been an improvement when encountering the force of the law during a drive. His choice of music was also one she had yet to warm to.

"Some things never change," Godric said knowingly with a small chuckle. "Are you in need of anything? To drink or eat perhaps?"

"No thank you," she declined with an ice to her tone. Sookie reasoned if he wasn't letting Eric partake in nourishments than she wasn't planning on accepting any hospitality from him either.

"I brought someone here to see you," Godric offered with a polite smile.

His genteel nature was unnerving Sookie to no end. He was supposed to be this horrible creature that was here to ruin everything she had come to cherish. He was pretending to be kind. He seemed _nice_. Almost human.

"Yes, Bill."

"Bill Compton is also here, but I was speaking of someone else."

"Jason?" Sookie gasped as she saw her brother awkwardly enter the throne room in one of the white linen uniforms. She glared at Eric wondering if his words of safety had been merely a ploy as her brother was now being dangled before her like a guarantee for her compliance.

"I thought you could use some support," Godric supplied.

"What in heavens for?" Sookie asked as she pulled her brother to sit beside her after greeting him with a small hug. She wanted him close and out of these clothes and safely tucked away in Bon Temps.

"I would like to speak to you about Bill Compton and the previous regime," Godric started.

"All right," she agreed tentatively. With Eric unable to reach out and assure her she decided it was best to simply placate the ancient vampire. Who knows what he could inflict on the ones that she cared most for. "Is he here?"

"We will begin momentarily if that is all right with you."

"Sure," she replied with a small shrug wondering why he bothered with the courtesy.

"Eric please take your seat," Godric commanded whilst he motioned a guardsman to bring in Bill Compton.

"What's going on? I thought I was just here to talk," Sookie said nervously as they strapped Eric with leather clad silver chains. Two vampire guards stood beside him, the sight before her did nothing to calm her nerves.

"We are," Godric replied cryptically as Bill was wheeled in, strapped in a similar confine to Eric. Godric took that moment to open the court case initiated by W.T. Compton in accusation of E. Northman.

Sookie latched on to Jason for what was going to happen. She feared for the life of both the vampires bound in silver in front of her. Nor was she eased for her own and Jason's safety. She willed back a tear not wanting to show the vulnerability that was festering inside of her. Eric had promised her she would be safe with him but it all seemed a lie now.

"Don't worry Sook," Jason whispered to the trembling form that his sister had become. "Godric's a friendly vampire like Eddie."

Sookie really didn't want to know how Jason knew a vampire named Eddie in this moment in time. She steeled herself to remain calm and in some semblance of control, at least to the outside world.

"Ms Stackhouse please tell the court how you came to meet Mr Compton," Godric asked.

As Sookie set out to retell the story of how they met she noticed Jason getting extremely annoyed at her solo heroics in saving the vampire from the pair of drainers. Most vampires looked at Bill with disdain when hearing that he would allow himself to be captured so easily. Sookie didn't pay attention to that her eyes could only travel guiltily between the two bound vampires.

When she retold the events of the next evening she was shocked when she heard what could only be described as an explosion accompanied with a load roar. Sookie folded her body over in protection on instinct at the deafening sound and Jason quickly covered her with his own body. Hisses were heard around the room as pieces of silver chain claimed impact on the vampires present.

"Stand down!" Godric commanded at the seething vampire ready to attack Bill Compton. When Sookie looked up at the ravage in front of her she saw multiple vampires writhing in pain. Pieces of masonry had crumbled down along the wall with the impact. This was what Pam was talking about then. Hearing how she and Bill met had literally made Eric explode in anger setting silver chains flying into the air with great impact.

Eric retreated back to his former position barely, containing his rage as he headed to his Master's wishes. He was rewrapped in a double set of chains which only made Sookie tremble with pain at the sight of it. A new set of guards flanked him albeit at a considerably further distance to the one maintained previous. Wounded vampires were removed to the infirmary and the court resumed its session when everyone finally managed to calm down.

"I don't understand," Sookie whispered to her brother. He shrugged just as confused.

"Did Mr Compton tell you he was originally sent by the Queen of Louisiana to procure you because of what you might be?" Godric asked as the court settled into silence again.

"What?" she asked with shock on her face. For the first time that night she met the eyes of her vampire boyfriend. Until that point the shame of what she had done with Eric had stopped her from doing so in fear that her guilty eyes may betray her doings. "Bill is this true?"

"I did not know why she wanted you." Bill spoke desperately. "As I grew to know you, I purposely kept you from her,"

"Ms Stackhouse the questions should be asked by me," Godric interjected what appeared to be becoming a private conversation.

"Sorry," she whispered with a small voice.

"Let us continue," Godric said. "Your files with Sophie Anne do indicate you were delaying delivery."

"My file?" Bill asked confused. Godric held up a file marked confidential from the palace archives in demonstration. Eric watched with satisfaction, as the vampire seemed to pale at the sight of it. A rare sight indeed.

"Was he ever going to tell me?" she whispered to herself but it was heard by all vampires in the room.

"You may answer Ms Stackhouse's question Mr Compton."

"I hoped to someday." Bill said the anguish legible over his entire face and body. "I swear it."

"What about you letting the two drainers beat her within an inch of her life so you could feed her your blood the night you met? All to attain the services of a telepath," Godric strangled out with the words that held such disgust in his mouth. "Were you going to tell her that?"

"Oh, my God," Sookie gasped out as the whites of her eyes seemed to be overtaking the pupils that they surrounded. Bill fought against his confines but he possessed nowhere near the strength of Eric as the room erupted into murmurs of outrage and indignation.

"Order," Godric bellowed out looking sternly at the two vampires who both immediately submitted to the power only one as ancient as he could expel. "Ms Stackhouse, are you alright to continue?" Sookie nodded as she desperately tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Your file indicates that you Mr Compton proposed to seduce Ms Stackhouse when she proved unresponsive to your heightened glamour," Godric spoke at the civil war veteran who remained mute but started to spill tears of blood instead. "I quote, 'The subject has remained untouched in her twenty-five years and seemed responsive to my charm. I believe by courting her she will soon be doing my bidding as I please. She has no hope of a love life with a human man, I am her only choice and she will surely take it.' These are your words Mr Compton?"

The cold description of her inexperience when they first met, while accurate, was crushing to Sookie's fragile heart. The tears started flowing as she still held onto some hope that these were all lies, a ploy of Godric's to bring her to her knees. A punishment for what she and Eric had done during the day in the supply closet of Fangtasia.

Deep down she knew that in her interactions with Bill something had always felt off. There was always a detachment there that she had accredited to his nocturnal ways but that didn't exist with Eric. It didn't even exist with Godric. It made her mad as hell.

"Is it true?" she demanded to the eyes of her first love.

"Yes," he admitted barely uttering the word.

"Motherfucker!" Jason screamed leaping out of his seat ready to attack the offending vampire. Godric was impressed how far he had made it before the vampire guards intercepted him.

"Release Mr Stackhouse to me," Godric said gesturing towards the seat he had occupied before. Sookie pulled her brother down beside her and Godric spoke to him gently, "Remember Jason your sister needs you beside her."

Jason nodded at Godric barely containing his itching fists. Sookie latched on to one and he pulled his other arm around her back holding her tight to him.

"He manipulated me into falling in love with him," she said to Jason the tears falling fast as he tried to comfort her by drawing circles on her back. "He stole my innocence."

There were no words for Jason to describe how he felt about the vampire that had deceived his sister. Only his body could adequately respond, with violence, so instead he listened to Godric's words and channelled it into the soothing of his sister. Jason was perhaps not the most sincere when it came to the other sex but they always knew what to expect from him. He never deceived a woman into his bed, they knew what they were there for and they knew it had nothing to do with love.

"Sookie, please. It is who you are, not what you are, that I love, and will love always, until I meet the true death," Bill pleaded.

"Love?! You don't even get to use that word," she screamed as the hot tears were no longer contained. Her outward grief set the room to disorder again as the drama continued to unfold. "I want nothing to do with you."

"Jason perhaps it is best you escort your sister outside for the moment," Godric suggested with kind eyes as Sookie's body seemed to collapse upon itself.

"I don't know what you are thinking," Jason said outraged jumping from his seat glad to be finally channelling some of that tempered rage. "But my sister ain't no prostitute!"

"Jason, honey," Sookie sniffed pulling at his hand. "He means to take me out of the room."

"Oh," Jason returned perplexed. "Right. Let's go then Sook."

"Court is back in session," Godric announced as soon as Sookie and Jason shut the door on the throne room.

* * *

"All right wolfies," Pam sing-songed. "Let's go find us an ancient vampire. I'm really beginning to like this chopper. Perhaps I should get one in pink."

"I'll give you a contact card," Logan smirked at the blonde vampire.

He was actually quite enjoying the company of the blonde vampire. She was snarky but it was usually at Alcide's expense who was being a miserable shit. So Logan figured it a well-founded treatment.

Pam continued to probe Logan what all the buttons did on their way back up north. Logan patiently told her what each and every single button did whilst still concentrating on flying them there safely.

"This really doesn't sound that hard. Let me try," Pam demanded.

"In your dreams sweet cheeks," Logan chuckled. "Just because you can't die doesn't mean we have too."

"Wolves," she drawled out exasperated, "always so scared to die."

"Vampires," Logan returned, "always so damn happy to kill everyone."

"You bet," Pam said with a wink of an eye and a cluck of her tongue.

"You're alright for a vamp," Logan said as he started descending the chopper to the intended landing spot.

"You're not too bad yourself, wolf," Pam retorted thinking Sookie would be proud of her improved conversational skills. "Though you still smell."

Logan chuckled all the way through the landing pretending to waft his scent towards Pam. She didn't laugh with him but was amused nonetheless.

Firmly on the ground the front passengers lowered the headsets from their ears. "Watch this," he said to Pam as he pulled up the volume on Alcide's previously muted headset since he was soundly asleep again. "Bitch in the back. Let's go," Logan yelled through the speaker.

Pam cackled hysterically as Alcide shot up and banged his head on the low ceiling.

"For fuck's sake, Logan!" Alcide yelled as he got out of the helicopter nursing his injured head with the back of his hand. "Not cool, man."

"I owe you a dance," Pam said to Logan with another wink of the eye.

"I won't shower for a week in anticipation," he returned with a big grin.

"I've come to expect nothing less from you," Pam returned with a wrinkled nose as both men transformed into their wolf form so she would be sure to have the last word. Logan just barked at her when his transformation was complete in retort.

"Good luck with getting yourself heard with that wolfie," Pam crooned whilst condescendingly petting his head. "Follow me," she announced as she sped through the dense forest.

When they were a few hundred yards from the cave entrance Logan shifted back to his human form. Pam tossed him his clothes still holding Alcide's set while waiting on him to transform back.

"What's with him?" she asked motioning at Alcide who seemed to refuse to shift.

"He's still pissed about the headphones," Logan shrugged.

"Whatever," Pam said with a roll of her eyes as they walked towards the entrance. The wolves that were guarding the mouth of the cave let them through recognising their fellow canines and watched the three with caution.

The cave was dimly lit but all three supernaturals had no issue seeing through the darkness. Pam could sense Russell's presence as he assuredly could hers. He didn't seem to move at all so she continued down the cave.

"Pamela Swynford de Beaufort," a voice rang through the cave. "As I live and breathe."

"Hardly," Pam smirked.

"I knew I liked you," he said as he kissed her on the cheeks three times. "Now were you the one making all that noise over my head?"

"Guilty as charged," Pam said with a fangy smile.

"Well that explains it then," Russell mumbled to himself. "No fires this time." He paced up and down the opening in the cave and counted out loud when he reached five he looked at the invading threesome again.

"You brought me a puppy?" he said with glee speeding over to Alcide.

"Sure take him," Pam quipped before putting on her stern mommy voice and wagging her index finger back and forth, "but you have to promise to feed him, bathe him and walk him every day."

Russell was now wrapping himself around the wolf's torso petting at the bottom of his jaw, cooing at the feel of his soft fur. He pulled his face towards Pam and spoke in a most innocent voice, "Really I get to keep him mommy? I think I'll call him Lola."

Within seconds Alcide shifted back to his human form whilst screaming, "Oh hell no!"

Russell took in the naked tan and muscular physique of the were firmly held in his embrace and exclaimed with newfound glee in his eyes, "Ooh this is even better than a puppy!"

* * *

Jason and Sookie were brought to a modestly decorated bedroom with drab grey bedding. Linen Sookie noted, she had never discriminated against the material before but she hated it on sight from now on. Sookie cried softly in the arms of her brother who hurt along with her. He had never liked Vampire Bill but he had never thought a man was capable of this cruelty on someone as vulnerable as his sister. He felt like a failure in not being able to prevent the damage that this had caused on his baby sister.

When she quieted down some Jason asked, "Hey what was that Eric guy doing there anyway?"

"You know Eric?" Sookie asked looking confused.

"Yeah he helped us out with the maenad," Jason spoke as if it was the most common everyday occurrence.

"Maenad?"

"Shit you weren't there," Jason remembered before continuing to retell the events of Bon Temps that had been going on in her absence. It momentarily took Sookie's mind away from the trials of the evening but it only caused her more sadness as she took in the destruction that was taking place in her hometown.

"Now all the kids are being taken care of by Steve and Sarah Newlin in one of Eric's homes," Jason finished up explaining how he got to meet Eric.

Sookie groaned with the images that came along in Jason's mind with his last sentence. Close contact was never a good thing for a telepath. "You had sex with Sarah Newlin," she hissed.

He gave her a guilty look even though he wasn't feeling it. "What was I gonna say?" he asked incredulously. "No?"

She shook her head disbelievingly. Some things never changed. Men, she thought, they were all dogs. This night was surely proving that maybe she briefly thought that maybe Pam had it right after all. A knock on the door announced the end of their quiet retreat.

"Sir Godric asks if you are able to return to court," the page at the door asked.

After Jason confirmed Sookie was good to go he asked for a few minutes so she could compose herself again. Sookie freshened up her face in the bathroom trying to avoid the haunting look on her face in the mirror without success. Jason held his hand firmly grasped in hers as they walked the long and empty hallways back to the throne room. Before they entered Sookie turned towards her brother holding him back from entering.

"Jason promise me if Eric was part of the scheme you'll get me out of here and never speak of it again," Sookie pleaded.

"Sure Sis," Jason said as he pulled her to him in a soft embrace. He gave her a soft peck on the cheek. "If you want I'll stake all their asses."

"That's sweet Jason, but no," she said with a small headshake.

"I am glad you can join us again Ms Stackhouse," Godric spoke sympathetically as Sookie and Jason sat themselves down beside the throne again. "Is the court ready for their ruling?"

"We are Sire," a vampire from the front row said as he bowed towards the king.

"What say you?"

"The proof presented by William Compton was deemed unsubstantiated. Eric Northman was purposefully left out in the procuring of the telepath by the former queen. A witness of the palace has confirmed specific instructions were given to keep the telepath away from the area sheriff. We deem William Compton's claim that the sheriff of area five aided or conspired with Sophie Anne Leclerq unfounded. We advise reparations be made to Sookie Stackhouse for the actions of Mr Compton and the former queen," the vampire with horn rimmed glasses finished.

"I thank you for your council. Jury you are dismissed."

The vampire with the glasses stood up as eleven others followed him out of the throne room. Sookie was surprised there had been a jury. In their identical wardrobe she had no idea there was a distinction between them and the rest of the crowd.

"Do you have any questions for Mr Compton?" Godric directed at Sookie.

"I would like to know who told him about my telepathy," Sookie asked of Godric refusing to look at Bill any longer.

"Yeah, who's the fucker who ratted my baby sis out," Jason demanded.

"That would be me," said a timid voice from the crowd.

"Come forward my child," Godric commanded. The crowd parted letting through a young blonde woman.

"Hadley," the Stackhouse siblings gasped in unison.

Hadley kneeled to the ground and Sookie only then noticed a void existed where her thoughts had once spoken to her.

"I seek your forgiveness cousin," Hadley said with red tears streaming down her pale face. "I wished to entertain my queen with stories of our childhood. I did not realise until it was too late of her true intentions."

Sookie cried at the sight of her cousin whilst Jason gritted his teeth in disgust.

"Does she have your forgiveness Ms Stackhouse?" the king requested.

Sookie thought long and hard as she looked at the submissive form kneeling before her. Hadley always talked a mile a minute with little thought so it would not be unusual for her to innocently reveal her gift. She looked healthy, happy almost. Sookie thought of their beloved grandmother and the happiness she would feel at the sight of a Hadley free from drugs. Not dead in a gutter as they had all assumed.

For her Gran Sookie replied yes. When Jason looked at her with disbelief she whispered it would have been what Gran wanted. He nodded in acceptance though only the fact that she was a female had prevented him from beating her to a pulp. Hadley returned to her seat, her white robes stained with the red tears from her face. She wore them like a badge of honour, the symbol of forgiveness, as she walked her bare feet down the aisle with a beaming smile.

"We should discuss the reparations," Godric said encouragingly towards Sookie.

"You wish to monetise something he took from me, something he could never return, pay off deceit," Sookie seethed the tears that had fallen for the sight of Hadley turning hot in anger. "I don't know what's more insulting! Being sold off to some queen or for my virginity to carry a price."

Godric saw the grave mistake in his offer and he felt a deep sense of shame. It was such a natural thing among the supernatural for blood offences to be settled with cash or more blood. He should have known that to the human spectrum of emotions that would never sit right.

"This is not to excuse what Mr Compton and Ms Leclerq have done to you," he offered hoping to appease to her. "Ask anything and I will give it to you."

Sookie sat quiet for a moment as she looked at Eric still bound by the silver chains. Deep sympathy radiated from the blue depths of his eyes, if she wasn't so angry she would have sobbed at the sight of it.

"I wish to have something that can never be returned," she spoke evenly with her decision made. Her gaze moved from Eric to Godric who strangely held a similar expression. It was unnerving to Sookie to be receiving the same sympathy from the vampire she held in such bad light. "He took something from me that was mine to give only once. I want the same."

"Ask it and I will grant it."

"I want you to release Eric to me," Sookie said staring him down intently as she watched the sympathy in his eyes flicker to fear.

A chorus of gasps travelled through the room at the nature of her request. The shock greatest lay on Eric's face but Sookie missed it with her continued standoff with his maker.

"No!" Bill screamed at the realisation that Eric was being saved in his stead. "Sookie he's just using you."

"Mr Compton you will refrain from commenting," Godric warned at the young vampire breaking the intense stare Sookie held on him. Bill dropped his head in submission regretfully as the king returned his attentions to the telepath.

"You wish to be his master?" Godric asked with brows furrowed.

"No," Sookie replied with a grace she did not know she possessed. "I wish him to be free. To be free of your command."

He stared her down hard, that's when he saw the care and yearning that plagued his child, resided in her just the same.

"You will care for him?" Godric asked softly.

She gave a small shrug, "You know how he is."

He returned her with a small knowing smile. "I do."

With a flick of Godric's wrist Bill was escorted out of the room while Eric was released from his bindings. Sookie walked over to him and moved her hands over him looking for any damage they may have incurred.

"This is right," Cecily spoke as she appeared beside Godric's throne. "Remember how I was born."

Godric refrained from answering, though he wished to deny her statement, feeling it was so wrong in every bone of his body. The voice of the prophecy had told him to sacrifice his son, now he realised it would not be beside him. This was the true sacrifice, letting him go.

It meant Godric would be facing the end alone and that scared him because as soon as Eric was released, he would be as empty as he was when he first found him. It was a state he had never wished to revert back to.

Sookie turned around to see the dainty red headed vampire speaking beside Godric. She didn't question where she came from. Vampires seemed to appear out of nowhere and startling her all the time. She was merely surprised that she wasn't in the standard issue white garbs.

"Please stand before me," he instructed Eric, who proceeded to kneel before him instead. It was a last gesture of submission to the one that had granted him this existence. The sight of it reminded Sookie of a warrior receiving a knighthood. Perhaps the elevation of status was not so farfetched in comparison. "There are centuries of faith and love between us," Godric spoke in a language Sookie didn't understand as he intended this to be a moment shared only between his child and himself.

"Father. Brother. Son. Let me go," Godric spoke with reverence. "I release you of my command."

The two vampires who had known each other so long stared at each other intently as their bond fizzled to nothing but a faint and small tie that would only dissolve further with time. Alerting one of each other's presence and nothing more. Godric felt great sorrow at the loss of it. The emptiness that had plagued him with the loss of Cecily resided within him once more and now another had added to it.

Eric experienced the pain equally. In a short period of time the bonds to his progeny and maker had dissipated. Never had he felt so empty in his existence as a vampire, he was somewhat shocked at the experience of it. Freedom was granted to him but it made him feel more vulnerable than ever before. He looked towards the telepath standing beside him and realised what she had granted him; privilege of self.

Eric stood from his kneeling position now his maker's equal for the first time in his existence. He nodded at his maker with a small bow then mouthed the words thank you at Sookie. He did not enjoy the circumstances but she had granted him life. She beamed brightly at the sight, relief flooding over her that the worst of the threats were over. Pam was out of harm's way. Eric was safe and therefore so was she.

"Everyone is wearing your clothes," Cecily observed playing with the tassels on the corner of the throne. "Doesn't change anything."

Godric didn't answer in such close proximity to Jason. He had already slipped in front of him once. He could not afford to be deemed as insane in front of a crowd of witnesses.

"She's the only one who carries any light in here," she said pointing at Sookie, before a mischievous grin overtook her fine features. "Well my brother holds a torch for her in equal measure."

"You didn't tell me you had a vampire sister," Sookie whispered to Eric as he moved besides her enveloping her small hand completely in his.

"I've never met her," Eric shrugged maintaining the same noise level. "When should I have told you?"

"She's right there," Sookie hissed. "It's really rude to talk about someone like they're not there."

Cecily waved at Sookie and she returned it. Eric looked at her curiously waving to Godric who seemed equally confused.

"I had two sister's one human one vampire," Eric whispered back. "I assure you they are both finally dead."

Within a blink of an eye Godric stood in front of them startling Sookie into Eric's side.

"You see her too?" Godric asked with wonder.

"Of course," Sookie said assuredly wondering why everyone was questioning her on this. "She's right there. Can you tell her to please stop sniffing my brother?"

"What is happening?" Eric asked not seeing anyone near Jason. Godric proceeded to order the room to clear out immediately. As Jason stood to leave Cecily followed him around hungrily until Godric bid him to stay alongside Sookie and Eric.

"Cecily," she introduced as soon as the room stood empty.

"Sookie," she nodded back politely like she had seen vampires do. She was too preoccupied with the new vampire who seemed to be emitting an ethereal light to notice Eric and Jason's worried expressions. Godric gave Eric a look that told him to refrain from commenting and even though there was nothing forcing him to do so he heeded to his maker's silent command.

"I like him," she purred as her fingers lingered over Jason's forearms who chuckled a little at the ticklish feel of it. Sookie rolled her eyes at Jason, as he seemed all but ready to be seduced by any woman who graced him with her presence.

"I like him too," Sookie replied, "_alive."_

She giggled at the telepath. "Me too," she purred contentedly as she ran the tip of her nose along Jason's clavicle.

"Jason if you want her to stop, tell her," Sookie said to her brother who thought she had officially fallen into crazy territory.

"Who are you talking about?" Jason asked.

"Me," Cecily quipped contentedly basking herself in Jason's scent.

"How come you and Eric never met before?" Sookie asked, as Jason seemed to be happy to bask in Cecily's attentions for now.

"I'm dead," she said raising her head up from her ministrations to briefly meet Sookie's eyes through a curtain of her red hair. Jason confusedly repeated to Sookie that Eric and he had met a few nights ago but she didn't seem to be hearing him anymore.

"You all are," Sookie returned pointedly. "It's not really a valid excuse."

"More dead," she said with a knowing smile.

"Sookie," Godric said softly. "You are the first being to see Cecily besides myself in over 1700 years."

"You're _dead_ dead?" Sookie stumbled out in shock. Cecily just grinned wide in acknowledgement.

"I'm not dead Sookie!" Jason screamed.

"You can't see her," she said with eyes wide as saucers as the realisation hit her as Godric's earlier words finally registered that she was seeing a ghost.

"Explain," Eric gritted out his patience running thin with the bizarre conversation happening around him.

"Cecily has been haunting me ever since her death," Godric sighed. "She did not start speaking until recently."

Sookie scrutinised the apparition in front of her. "Are you the one who has been _speaking _toGodric of prophecies?" she demanded.

She shook her head with a waterfall of giggles escaping from her and red locks of hair flitting about. "No," she exhaled. "That's all him," Cecily continued with discriminating eyes directed at her father. "He's far from done yet. This is just the beginning."

"Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" Jason said incensed. "I'm not dead am I?" he said with a little uncertainty patting away at his chest as if to check he was still there.

"Jason don't freak out please," Sookie said in preparation.

"Oh my God! I'm dead," Jason screeched out despite his sister's warning. "Is that why everyone is wearing those weird pyjamas? This is heaven?"

"Jason," Sookie tried to reach out to him in his personal imposed mindfuck but panic was overtaking his eyes.

"I should have known," he mumbled to himself. "His name is Godric that's like God in some language or shit. I told them Jesus was a vampire. They didn't believe me."

"Jason," Sookie said sternly as she physically shook him out of his stupor. "You're not dead. There's a vampire ghost that only Godric and I can see. She was Godric's other child."

Relief flooded over Jason when he asked, "Is she pretty?"


	9. Chapter 8 - Kings and Queen

"_Oh my God! I'm dead," Jason screeched out despite his sister's warning. "Is that why everyone is wearing those weird pyjamas? This is heaven?"_

"_Jason," Sookie tried to reach out to him in his personal imposed mindfuck but panic was overtaking his eyes._

"_I should have known," he mumbled to himself. "His name is Godric that's like God in some language or shit. I told them Jesus was a vampire. They didn't believe me."_

"_Jason," Sookie said sternly as she physically shook him out of his stupor. "You're not dead. There's a vampire ghost that only Godric and I can see. She was Godric's other child."_

_Relief flooded over Jason when he asked, "Is she pretty?"_

Chapter 8 – Kings and Queen

"You and Maryann?" Lafayette questioned with his forehead wiggling up and down. "That's seriously fucked up Sam and you _know_ I've seen some fucked up shit."

"Yeah well try living it when you're seventeen and no one gives a damn about you," Sam sighed unable to mask the hurt that loneliness had inflicted on him as well as dictated the choices of his life. Lafayette gave him a small pat but let the man be with his own pain.

"Flesh eating, tribute and mother fuckin' bacchanals. That's all we know about the bull headed claw lady with the bad juju," Lafayette replied flipping through the pile of ancient tomes that had yet to yield a definitive answer to their problems. "Fucking maenad."

"Mr Merlotte are the vampires coming back?" a tiny voice by the door asked.

"What makes you ask that Madison," Sam asked pulling the young girl on his lap.

"The pretty lady told us secrets," she whispered into his ear.

"You mean Sarah, cher," Sam corrected as he brushed away the loose strands from her sweaty forehead.

Madison gave a small mischievous smile to Lafayette before whispering, "She looks like Barbie."

Lafayette gave her a big grin in return. "Sure does sugah. Now why is you not asleep in one of them big ol' beds."

"I had a nightmare," she said as her eyes focused on her fumbling hands at the hem of her nightshirt.

"How about uncle Lala make you some nice warm milk," Lafayette offered the doe eyed girl. "You can tell us all about it."

"Mamma always gives me a cookie," she returned shyly. Lafayette stood up from his chair to walk over to the open plan kitchen.

"Uncle Lala will see if vampires stock cookies in their home," he said as he rubbed the top of her head. When he had spoken the word _vampires_ Madison shook in fear with a quivering lip. Sam and Lafayette gave each other a poignant look at the sight of it.

When the children had all first sighted Eric in the kitchen of Merlotte's they had all been giddy with excitement. Madison in particular had become very fond of Godric in the short time he was in the home as he had indulged the children in a game of hide and go seek. Madison had clutched firmly onto the linen of the ancient vampire's pants when the excitement of the chase had become too much for her to handle. They had been inseparable till Godric finally put her to bed.

"Don't worry Madison, you're safe with us," Sam cooed at the frightened girl. She nodded bravely as she relaxed her shaken form in Sam's lap.

Lafayette set to warm the girl a cup of milk in the microwave while he foraged around in the dark depths of the cupboards in search of cookies.

"Ha," Lafayette mumbled softly to himself in triumph so Madison wouldn't hear him. "Even vampires can't say no to girl scouts."

Madison nursed her warm milk blowing at it with a concentrated set in her furrowed brows willing it to cool by the force of her impatience. "Can I have my cookie first uncle Lala?"

"Do whatever feels right to you baby girl," Lafayette answered as he moved the plate full of cookies in her direction.

"Vampires aren't right," Madison whispered as if she were reciting the pledge of allegiance while grabbing a cookie from the plate.

"Who told you that Madison?" Sam asked masking the aversion of the young girl's hateful words. As a shifter he wasn't the biggest fan of vampires. His feelings of distaste however were more directed at Bill Compton specifically rather than the species as a whole. Godric and the Northman had seemed helpful at least.

"Miss Sarah," the little girl said as she munched away at her cookie carefully holding it over her napkin. "There's going to be a great fire and then all the vampires and furry men will go away to hell. Oh and the omo," she paused trying to pronounce the big word. "omo.. omosectimals?" Madison tried again before Lafayette rubbed her shoulder and looked pointedly at Sam as he supplied, "Homosexuals."

"Yes, omosectuals," she nodded up at Lafayette with a beaming smile, "Your eyes are all glittery. Will you make mine glittery?"

"Maybe tomorrow boo," Lafayette smiled at her keeping up the cheerful façade to the indoctrinated little girl.

"Well hello Madison," a cheery voice spoke as he entered the large open plan area in plaid pyjamas. "We were wondering where your little feet had taken you. You had me and Sarah all worried."

"Sorry," she whispered as a few crumbs fell from her mouth. Not willing to lose anything she desperately tried to pick up the tiny pieces with the limited dexterity of her small fingers.

Steve crouched down to be at eye level with the little girl. "Boop," he said as his index finger pressed between her brows. She giggled at the feel of it. "You're not bothering Mr Reynolds and Mr Merlotte are you? They have to read all these books to defeat a creature of Satan. You know who Satan is don't you Madison."

"Yes," she nodded, her voice was as serious as it could be for a three year old. "He's the bad man."

"Very good Madison," Steve encouraged. "Have another cookie."

"Thank you, sir," she said demurely.

"Well aren't you precious," Steve gushed at her. "You're going to make some young man very happy one day."

"Not a vampire," Madison said still shivering from her nightmare.

"No. No more vampires for you little Madison," Steve said with a placating smile. "Shall I take you back to bed?"

"I still have to drink my milk," she protested with a little pout.

"Don't worry I'll bring her up when she's finished up," Sam offered in a good nature that didn't reveal the utter revulsion he held for the man in such close proximity.

"As long as she's not interfering with you gentlemen," Steve replied standing on his legs erect again.

"_She's_ not interfering at all," Lafayette hissed as he deflected Steve Newlin's hungry look roaming over his body. "Good night _Steve_."

"You have a good evening gentlemen," Steve greeted. He retreated back to his bedroom with a longing look over his shoulder directed at Lafayette.

vVvVvVv

Alcide had managed to redress himself and stood nervously with his back pressed against the cave's rough honed wall. His earlier foul mood, which had surfaced with his rude awakening in the helicopter, had lifted instantly when Pam had wrestled the naked were from the clutches of the ancient vampire. He was merely cautious and reserved now standing idly by taking in the unusual surroundings.

Russell had quite the luxurious set up for a cave. Opulent soft furnishings in brocade velvet and candle lit chandeliers dominated the space. Pam noted he was tidy too, there wasn't a speck of dust or dirt to be found despite living with wolves.

Pam and Logan had taken a seat on the sofa per Russell's invitation after apologising he had nothing to feed them. It puzzled Pam where the ancient vampire, whose origins were clearly European, had picked up the manners and accent of a Southern Belle.

"You're only the second person to find me since I relocated," Russell informed her proudly. "Tell me, how did you find me?"

"If you tell me how the first person found you," Pam grinned at him.

"Quid pro quo?" Russell mused with a hearty laugh. "The Northman never did skimp on his teachings."

"Well we could both don pink nighties, braid each other's hair and call it twenty questions if that makes you more comfortable," Pam deadpanned.

Russell looked beyond Pam leering at an uncomfortable Alcide before purring, "Well if the wolves all get one who am I to decline."

"Sorry," Pam replied although her face didn't show an ounce of remorse she was supposed to portray. "Only brought two."

"Shame," he sighed with the dark pools of his eyes still resting on Alcide's barely clad form. He turned his gaze back on an unfazed Pam studying her carefully. "You know, your happy face is the same as your mad face."

"Thank you," she said with great satisfaction. "So who beat me here?"

"Oh some lost little nugget," Russell drawled out in his thickened accent. "I think it's still back there somewhere," he continued motioning to the darker depths of the cavern. "Now tell me how _you _found little old me."

"As I recall there's nothing little about you," Pam intoned as her eyes gazed down to his crotch. She had never been at the end of it but Russell had hardly been shy about displaying it for all to see. Compliments were never lost on him either even if it made her gag internally to speak so appreciatively of the offending male parts.

"Indeed," he smirked catching the eye of the nervous wolf again. "Handy that vault of yours isn't it?"

"I have no use for the penises," she shrugged indifferently which induced a string of cackles from Russell. Instantly without recognisable cause his mood flipped and he was in front of Pam fangs down hissing. Her expression didn't flinch she only acknowledged his close proximity by blinking unnecessarily once.

"How. Did. You. Find. Me?" he seethed, the rage in his eyes unwavering.

"I had a little nugget to help me too," Pam returned calmly batting her eyelashes at him in portrayed innocence.

"What kind of nugget?" Russell demanded more incessantly.

"She did eat an awful lot of those chicken nuggets," Pam absently pondered.

"Tell me."

"Promise you'll help?" she said with an enticing grin.

"I will promise to listen," he acquiesced as he took to his seat again. "Now tell me how you found me."

"I had use of a telepath."

"A true telepath?" he asked with glee, to which Pam gave an affirmative nod. "She can read our minds?"

"No she is only able to detect where our minds should be. She calls our brain signature voids."

"Cold, dead and without contents," he summarised. "She's not far off. Quite handy this nugget."

"Yes," Pam agreed. "Even with the chicken smell."

Russell smiled at her. Humour really was the only thing that sustained a vampire through the ages. The surly ones barely made it to five hundred. She was determined too; from this Russell knew she would make it to quite a respectable age. "I promised to listen, so listen I shall."

"Wolfies leave the vampires to talk amongst themselves," she commanded of the weres, who were only too happy to remove themselves from the snake pit. Russell gave a lingering look at Alcide's hind till it disappeared from his appreciative view. Neither vampire spoke until the heightened hearing of the wolves were decidedly out of earshot. "I am here to ask you to reassert your crown," she stated bluntly.

"You know full well that I laid down my reign permanently," he dismissed with a gesture of his hands. "This is not Club Med."

"Club Med?" Pam said aghast. "You truly have been living in a cave for over a decade."

He didn't chuckle at that. "You prepared that one," he noted with disappointment. "I expect better from you my china doll. Repartee is a dying art form."

She nodded in deference. "How do you keep track of dying art forms with wolves for company?"

"They are quite spirited with their opinions," Russell said in full seriousness. "And I do get a newspaper every day."

"Well it makes sense that you are the last subscriber to a newspaper," Pam smirked.

"Yes, that's all those newspapers seem to be writing about; their own demise," he contemplated with a hint of confusion. "Humans such strange creatures. How fares the great reveal?"

"It has its issues," Pam said dismissively. "Let us get back to your crown."

"Ah yes," he grinned indulgently. "Almost thought you forgot poppet."

"Vault," she spoke out succinctly while simply tapping at the temple of her forehead in demonstration.

"Continue," he said amused.

"You and I know that the crown may not sit atop your head but that it's still yours. The Queen is nothing but a fancy placeholder."

"I am retired," he stated simply.

"Vampire royalty does not retire," Pam said with steel in her voice as she recited the lessons of her maker. "They rule or they die. Nothing in between."

"Now why is the Viking sending his precious progeny to me?" he pondered aloud, his fingers tapping away at his protruding chin. "What is happening in Louisiana?"

Pam refrained from commenting letting silence settled into the cavern.

"Of course," Russell exclaimed with satisfaction. "The Viking is not too pleased with papa on the throne. Did he want the shiny crown all for himself?" The innocent pout on the King of Mississippi's face did nothing to retain the ire that insulting Pam's maker cause

"Eric couldn't give a fuck about a crown on his head," she hissed. "He doesn't have a death wish."

"So why did he send you here?" Russell asked with a glint illuminating his dark eyes. "You seem to have one coming in here all by your lonesome."

"Because his fucking maker has a death wish and he's taking all surrounding vampires down with him till there are probably none of us left!"

"He needs someone to take on papa then," Russell summarised. "Who is it this time? Moses, Lillith, Allah or all of the above?"

"Fucking worse," Pam exhaled in annoyance. "J.C. and the sunshine band."

vVvVvVv

"Let's get the fuck out of here," he spoke against her lips. His right hand was cupping her breast as his other ground her behind towards his crotch. The soft cushions of his lips were slippery with their shared saliva as his assault on her would otherwise be described as rough as the soft bristle of his scruff moved over her smooth skin. Sookie moaned in delight before she took in the full meaning of his words.

She looked up to him in the endorphin induced haze uttering a confused, "What?"

"I hated this place before, I detest it now," Eric said as he continued to kiss down the graceful arch of her neck.

"Where?" she asked breathlessly.

"Anywhere but here," Eric answered as he took to her swollen lips again. "Europe, Asia, have your pick."

"No," Sookie said sternly as she caught her breath.

"I have money," he said between a kiss to her chest, "We can go anywhere you like." His agile fingers snaked down the front of her underwear dipping the pads of his fingers between her ever dampening folds. Before his thumb managed to reach her clit she yanked his hand out of her.

"Except home?" she demanded placing physical distance between them instantly cooling the heat that was flaming between them.

"Yes," he replied honestly. "I cannot stay here. I may not be at his command as his child but he's still my king if I remain."

"So fuck everyone else?" she asked with dismay.

"Yes, the two of us it's enough," Eric said as he moved into closer proximity to reassert what they had started. She halted his progress by placing her hands to his chest but only because he allowed it.

"So you're back to being a selfish asshole," Sookie sighed.

He growled at her insinuation, "I am doing what is essential for _our_ survival. That means getting the fuck out of here."

"If you wanna go, then fucking go Eric," she hissed out. "At least you cared about what happened to others at the start of this."

"I care about you more," Eric said softly as he kissed her again. She refused entrance for his encroaching tongue as she moved her face to the side. When he pulled himself away from her the rejection and hurt was written all over his face. Sookie never thought she had seen him look this pained before, not even when he knew of his impending final death.

"Not enough Eric." Her tone left no argument to the stated fact. "There's a maenad tearing through every single heirloom and room in my home. Meanwhile the entire town is desecrating my yard in some giant orgy. There is an entire population of children holed up in one of your homes without their parents. I fight for those I love. I thought you did too."

"Maenad's move on after they had their fun," Eric shrugged. "She gets her tribute and leaves eventually."

"That house has been in my family for generations. They may be just things to you Eric but they mean everything to me," she said incensed at his lack of sympathy for anyone else.

"Things can be replaced. You can't."

"Can you just stop being an immaterial ass for like one second," she seethed. "Don't you care about what happens with Godric? I see the way you look at him. Regardless of what he is now, you care for him. You love him."

"That is not the maker that I knew," Eric said stoically. "He taught me there is no wrong or right, only survival or death. Now he thinks he told me a lie."

"He's not going to stop at Louisiana, Eric. The first bonfire is just the beginning."

"How do you know this?" he asked sitting down trying to clamp down his emotions. Being around his maker and having to hide his inner turmoil had made it a near permanent exercise. Only during that day with Sookie had he been able to let go and he so desperately wanted to experience that with her again.

"Cecily," Sookie said sitting down opposite him with her legs tucked under her. "She alluded Godric's plans were bigger. Cecily is not the one telling him to do this, I think she's discouraging him."

"What else did she say?"

"She doesn't say much. 'Frugal with words' my Gran would say," Sookie reminisced with a small smile for her recently departed grandmother. Her softened features made them both let go of their heightened stance towards each other. "She encouraged your release something about how she was born."

"Godric was forced to make her by his own maker against his will. He promised he would never force my will because of it," Eric said thinking back to the single time his maker had shared the titbit of information of his deceased sister. It only further supported his stand that the maker that had raised him had disappeared with the breaking of that vow. "Cecily didn't want my end to be like her birth."

"Is everyone really so enamoured with his teachings here?" Sookie asked. "It feels like a cult with the identical robes."

"Being made vampire is not an easy exercise on the mind," Eric explained having watched so many of the most formidable of his kind crumple under the pressure of unending time. "Someone offering redemption is always an attractive ploy. He's not the first and he won't be the last," he spoke thoughtfully before continuing suggestively, "You're not a fan of my clothes then."

"Don't you dare try to distract me with taking them off," she warned as he started to lift the offending material to reveal the body that had made her reassert her commitment to fidelity in the past. "Cecily didn't seem to like the required uniform much either."

"I like her already," Eric smirked lowering the hemline down again.

"You're very much alike," Sookie sighed admonishingly with a small shake of her head. At his questioning brow she continued, "She was horning all over my brother."

"Not even I have experienced sex with a ghost in my thousand years," he said thoughtfully. "Interesting."

"Not happening buster!" Sookie said outraged. "Besides she's your sister."

"I see you still consider me yours then," he returned with a satisfied grin.

"I'll have to reconsider it if you insist on being a deserter," she replied in a clipped tone.

He kneeled down in front of her taking her chin in his hand. "We will stay with Godric to resolve the issue with the maenad. Beyond that survival takes precedence over death."

"Ok," she sighed in small relief with the small victory. Their lips moved towards each other in an uncoordinated move. The feel of her hair whispered against his skin as their lips brushed against each other tenderly. Both seeking and granting permission at the same time.

The feel of the other prospered, their senses permeating them from one onto another. It was like a dam bursting as she laid down her shields with him while he relented control over the maelstrom of occupied thoughts that was his mental state since the demise of the former queen.

It was enough. The two of them and this kiss. They found the refuge they sought in each other.

"I can tell you what they're saying," Cecily offered.

"I don't think I want to know," Godric said looking at the monitor displaying the slight static over the black and white imagery.

"Love," Cecily said nonchalantly while flicking away a piece of dust from her forearm.

"They seemed too upset to be speaking of love," Godric observed thoughtfully.

"Have you not learnt anything for your two thousand years?" she admonished. "Love is not voluntary."

He blinked at her. That was probably the most elaborate sentence he had ever heard her utter. It had never been a subject they ever discussed during their lifetime together.

The noise emitting from the telephone disturbed them. "_Your Majesty, the Queen of Mississippi is on the line," _the nasal voice of his secretary informed.

"Put her through," he replied automatically switching of the monitors.

"Godric, so good to hear of you," she purred down the line. "I have yet to congratulate you on your newly acquired position."

"It is good to hear from you too, your Majesty," he offered politely.

"We are peers now Godric. We should be able to converse informally amongst ourselves."

"Of course. My apologies," Godric said as he swallowed his annoyance. He had always detested this vampire but he would need allies in the future, even reluctant ones. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I seek an audience with you."

"Are we not speaking already?" he asked unsure what the correct protocol was amongst royals. He had observed them from afar but never mingled among them. The royal vampire courts had always been riddled with deathly politics thus a penchant for survival dictated there was nothing to be sought there.

"We are," she sighed. "Telephones are wonderful inventions but it lacks the essence of a true conversation. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Perhaps," Godric said not willing to encourage the conversation beyond necessary. "You wish to make a state visit."

"Yes, we are neighbours after all. We should discuss _things."_

"These things would be?" he asked uninterested. She was most likely coming to court him, her position was a weak one at best. He'd turn her down but host her out of politeness.

"You'll find out when I get there," she spoke suggestively. "I will see you tomorrow night."

"You are coming so soon," Godric said annoyed, the maenad situation still wearing heavily on his mind. "Perhaps a later date is more suitable?"

"I insist we meet as soon as possible," she said with a threat in her voice.

"Very well," Godric agreed wanting to get the business done as soon as possible now that he had committed to it. "I must inform you I will depart to the northern region of my state in the mid-evening."

"I won't take much of your time," she responded and hung up the phone without a goodbye.

vVvVvVv

Jason woke to a tingling sensation as the sun warmed his bare skin. Goose bumps trailed down paths of his body as he felt the cold gusts of winds travelling up and down his bare skin. The feeling was foreign to him, being warmed hot and chilled cool all at the same time.

He moaned lazily. "I wish I could see you," he whispered as he had finally come to discover the source of the strange sensations he had been feeling since meeting Godric. Jason was most thankful it wasn't a response to the quiet ancient vampire but rather a female invisible one.

The skin around his ear tantalised in response and his morning greeting only further strained the fabric of his white briefs to full attention. His lips responded to hers, they felt full brushing up against his mind. He moved his hand towards his underwear but his hand was swept aside.

"Whoa," he exclaimed marvelling at his unchanged hand in front of him as if it had just turned into a foreign object. He relented his participation of the act allowing the unknown sensations to wash over his body. Little pinpricks travelled down his chest making him groan in appreciation.

Tracks of tiny tremors travelled up and down his thighs the sensation of it all overwhelming. He bent his arm over his face shielding his eyes at the tease of it all, not sure if he could stand any more if he had to engage his vision into the experience. However, his eyes instantly popped open when the feel of cotton departed from his body leaving him bare and exposed.

"Fuuuuuck," he uttered out wide eyed as he saw the white briefs move down his legs. His cock was weeping in pain as he desperately waited for some form of release with the taunt of her tease. It felt like tiny fibres were brushing away over his skin from his chest down to his ankles. He bellowed out in pleasure and pain as his erection was firmly grasped by the invisible force.

It moved tightly up and down the sensation turning from cool to hot. The cool morning air only added to the tension of it all as fever replaced chill intermittently. The pre-cum that trickled down lubricated up and down his length. He whimpered in agony as the phenomenon continued and increased in speed.

He felt his balls tighten while simultaneously his perineum was massaged by a wisp of energy. He could barely contain himself any longer despite never wanting the assault on his body to stop. Jason wheezed out a gust of breath as he felt a tiny invasion in his rear. Startled at the feeling he shot up hinging on his torso before he was firmly pushed down again. The vibrations forming in his lower abdomen coiling into an ever tighter constriction.

A final tug at his balls and he was seeing stars. He erupted like an unending geyser, howling out as an unprecedented climax overtook him. A sharp pain on his inner thigh quickly turned to an utter indulgence of a prolonged high. He looked down at it expecting to see two trickling spots of blood but instead he saw a young red headed girl savagely sucking at his inner thigh lapping up the last bit of blood before the wounds closed.

"Cecily," he whispered as he reached his hand to feel at her. She moved her penetrating green eyes to meet his. Jason brushed aside the curtain of her hair that was hiding her other worldly face.

"You taste delicious," she purred as a large grin overtook him. Her eyes shifted back to his slowly dissipating erection. "Mind if I clean up?"

"Fuck yeah," he replied completely content. Her tongue felt sensational as it lapped up the fruits of her labour. When she licked him completely clean he pulled her up to his face draping her still fully dressed over his naked form. He kissed her softly and she returned his amorous vigour with needy desire.

"That was the best head I ever received," he whispered as he caressed her lips with his thumb.

She smiled shyly in return. "That was just a hand job, silly goose."

"Better than anything I ever experienced," Jason returned contented. "How come I can see you now?"

"We are bound by blood," she shrugged indifferently. "Kin."

Jason had no clue what it meant, nor could he care. He nuzzled himself into her mountain of hair. He held her lithe form in his arms feeling everything as flesh and air at the same time. Fire and sky. He checked his state of mind and assured himself he wasn't high or dreaming. Convinced it was all real.

"Why are you here?" he asked of her.

"Where else could I be?"

**A/N: For those of you who haven't seen it yet: in celebration of my fanfic birthday this past Wednesday I wrote a silly little one shot called**_**The Doctor is in**_** that has Dr Ludwig setting right some of the wrongs of CH's dead ever after. Please check it out if you like.**


	10. Chapter 9 - Unholy Alliances

"_Of course," Russell exclaimed with satisfaction. "The Viking is not too pleased with papa on the throne. Did he want the shiny crown all for himself?" The innocent pout on the King of Mississippi's face did nothing to retain the ire that insulting Pam's maker caused._

"_Eric couldn't give a fuck about a crown on his head," she hissed. "He doesn't have a death wish."_

"_So why did he send you here?" Russell asked with a glint illuminating his dark eyes. "You seem to have one coming in here all by your lonesome."_

"_Because his fucking maker has a death wish and he's taking all surrounding vampires down with him till there are probably none of us left!"_

"_He needs someone to take on papa then," Russell summarised. "Who is it this time? Moses, Lillith, Allah or all of the above?"_

"_Fucking worse," Pam exhaled in annoyance. "J.C. and the sunshine band."_

Chapter 9 – Unholy Alliances

"Jesus?" Russell said thoughtfully. "I met him once. He was a boring hippy that stank of patchouli."

Pam wrinkled her nose in distaste. She abhorred the sixties for that scent alone, it was every- _fucking-_where. Some of her highly prized vintage clothing still lingered with the revolting smell, despite her best efforts to remove it.

"Pray tell what band is this?"

"You are aware of the Fellowship of the Sun?" Pam asked as her face settled back to its stoic stance after the slight uproar that patchouli memories rendered.

He growled in response. A far more feral response than Pam had anticipated. Most vampires didn't respond this strongly unless they were personally affected by the so called church. All vampires naturally detested the Fellowship but the extreme hatred was reserved for their victims. Humans were never viewed as a threat unless they had succeeded in being one. The 'church', however, had emerged post Great Reveal when Russell was already locked away in seclusion.

The blonde vampire regarded the ancient one carefully. His insanity had clearly been exaggerated by the loose lipped vampires he once surrounded himself with. The only reason he was alive after his media stunt was because it had been able to be contained. Russell's outburst that resulted in the cruel death of a news cast anchor had aired solely on a local news station. The AVL had managed to glamour every single TV viewer, as was standard protocol before the Great Reveal. It had been so effective they had to reglamour the same group of people again after the reveal so that they believed there really was such things as vampires.

The reason he was alive was most likely that he was older than the entire council combined. He looked as plain as he was lethal. The number of beautiful vampires were plentiful for the reason of aesthetics alone. A plain vampire was rare for a reason. 'Always look out for the plain ones,' Eric had taught her, 'and always fear the ugly ones.' Most of all Russell was unpredictable and those were the most dangerous of vampires to taunt.

Pam was satisfied that she had found her hook with the 'sunshine band'. The Fellowship of the Sun had wronged him somehow. This is where she would reel Russell in but he had to swim himself there. Pam never relished in an easy conquest. She was vampire after all. It meant there was always time to do things properly. Pam knew for sure they were definitely going to take their time with this. She couldn't wait.

vVvVvVv

"Hey sis," Jason greeted with a shit eating grin on his bright face. Sookie gasped when she looked up and saw her brother happily holding hands with a cheerful Cecily.

She remained speechless as they sat down opposite her in the booth of the palace mess hall. Cecily waved at her just like she had in the throne room. Jason pulled his arm over her shoulder scooting her closer and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"So what's good here?" he asked looking at the menu.

"You can see her now," Sookie said stunned.

"Huh, yeah," Jason shrugged as he squinted at the menu. "What's tofu?"

"It all tastes like ass," Sookie answered as she set aside the barely touched vegan three bean platter with the afore mentioned ingredient. "Now tell me why you can see her all of a sudden."

"Something about kin. What's sei... tan?" Jason tried to pronounce the mystery ingredient.

"Sa-tan," Cecily enunciated the Japanese wheat protein for him.

"I thought they were all about Jesus here?" Jason returned confused to which Cecily only giggled melodically.

"I don't know Jase. Let's go out and eat something real elsewhere," Sookie suggested still awaiting an answer to her initial question. "Can you go out in the sun Cecily?"

"Sure," Cecily replied as if she was responding to a completely bizarre question and Sookie was especially slow.

They found themselves lying on the grass of a nearby square overlooking the Mississippi River before Sookie finally got some answers to her burning questions. Cecily was lovingly rubbing over Jason's full tummy as the sun was hanging low in the sky.

"So Jason and I can see you because we're related somehow?" Sookie asked her eyebrows scrunched at the thought.

"Yes we're all fairies," Cecily said with a tiny shrug before resting her head on Jason's chest. "Part at least." Jason ran his fingers through her long hair the interchange between material and immaterial entertaining him like a small child and his puppy.

"Fairies?" Sookie asked in confusion.

"Hey I ain't no fairy," Jason huffed out as he pulled up his upper back to look at Cecily. "I think I proved that more than once today."

She giggled up at him shaking her head back and forth. Cecily was especially ethereal at that moment as if the elements surrounding her had no effect on her. "Not those fairies," she admonished with a kiss.

"Like Tinkerbelle?" Sookie wondered aloud.

"Pixies," she huffed in disgust. "Different species, related though. The fae used to inhabit this world alongside the others but vampires liked the taste too much. They live on a different plane now."

"We're related how?" Sookie asked wondering how healthy these relations between Cecily and Jason were.

"Same clan. Sky. It's why you enjoy the sun so much." Jason and Sookie nodded in affirmation of her assessment. "I am of the fire clan too. You two are pure sky. Quite rare. Special."

"What is he doing?" a baritone voice said pointing at Jason.

"Eric," Sookie exclaimed as she recognised him and pulled him down beside her.

He purred at her scent, "You reek of the sun."

"Sorry," she offered. "Apparently we sky fairies adore the sun."

"Don't be sorry," he murmured as he nuzzled her exposed skin she giggled a little at the ticklish feel of it. "It's delicious. It makes up for waking up alone."

"Sorry," Sookie offered again for leaving him absent in bed.

"Is he a mime?" Eric asked when he finally regained a hold of his senses.

"No. Welcome to the crazy Stackhouse clan. He can see Cecily too now," she said off handed. "She drank his blood, we're family." He quirked his brow at that demanding a more thorough explanation. She regaled at length their connection to the part fae sky/fire faepire with supplemental information from the unique creature herself. By the end Eric was gazing at where Cecily would be looking for any sign of her. Frankly he felt a little left out.

"If Cecily were to drink my blood do you think I could see her?" Eric pondered aloud. Sookie growled a little at the thought of him sharing his blood with Cecily. She was possessive of his blood despite never having ingested it, though she had no rational explanation as to why. Nor did she have a logical reason for her distaste of the idea.

"Cecily says unless you're a fire or sky clan descendant it's not likely," Sookie relayed.

"If you and I were to exchange blood?" he asked of Sookie. Eric was curious what her reaction would be. Never in his existence had he wanted to share his blood with anyone. Even with Pam he had been hesitant even though he ultimately wanted her as his child. From the moment he had laid his eyes on Sookie however he wanted nothing more. Upon the realisation that he didn't want her as his child, the importance of her had been painted in a new light. They were the musings of a vampire condemned to die. With his release the facts had remained unchanged. He noticed a glint of anticipation in Sookie's eyes as she licked her lips. It pleased him greatly.

"Meh," Sookie imitated Cecily, not entirely sure what that was supposed to mean. "Sit up, I wanna try something."

He obliged and she moved behind him holding his head between her palms and concentrated. She tried to project to him the image of Cecily as she saw her in front of them. For the first time in a thousand years he gasped when the lithe redhead waving to him suddenly materialised with her head laying atop Jason's chest.

"_Welcome to the zoo_," Cecily said in his native tongue.

vVvVvVv

"Louisiana," the Queen of Mississippi greeted.

"Mississippi," he returned his tone polite.

"Love what you've done with the place," she complimented. "So… authentic."

"My tastes are not as lavish as my predecessor," Godric replied in explanation.

"So I've heard," she purred at him. "It was quite the fire from what I gather. My area three sheriff could see the ashes rising all the way in Biloxi."

"What brings you to our state?" he proceeded to ask, not interested in rehashing the events of that night.

"I've come to collect," she informed with a satisfied smile.

"I am not aware that you and Sophie Anne had any joint ventures."

"No silly," she said with a lyric voice. "I've come to collect my child and his human."

"I will not interfere between a child and his maker," Godric said with reverence hoping this would be the end of their conversation. With Eric's release he had realised not every vampire would be essential to the prophecy he had received. It had taught him choice was essential to his plan.

"Well perhaps I have no use for the magister after all," she smiled menacingly.

"The magister is in New Orleans? At your behest?" Godric asked affronted. The transcripts he had seen so far in regards to the local magister's dealings were disconcerting. He had spoken with the young vampire, Jessica Hamby, who was turned as punishment for another vampire's crime. Her maker had abandoned her as soon as she was born, Jessica did not even know his name.

The newborn was placed in her Sheriff's care till she found her way to New Orleans. The callous manner at which the magister viewed human life was troubling Godric greatly. To him it was these acts that cemented their eternal damnation.

"I ask for his presence. If you would oblige me," Godric requested.

"I'd expect nothing less from a man of your stature," she smirked. One of her underlings left the room to make a call at her order before they continued their polite salon conversation. Godric observed thoughtfully how the veteran queen ordered around her entourage with minute gestures.

"Your numbers have been growing with the reveal of the maenad," she observed over a warmed cup of True Blood in a delicate china cup. "You prophecy is moving along as you have spoken it."

"Yes," he acknowledged. "We have many new vampires seeking residence among us. Our species has been solitary for too long. They seek a warm nest."

"Mmm," she sounded out not agreeing or disagreeing with him. She gazed around at the distinctively cold surroundings she found herself in. "Redemption is alluring indeed," she said with an unspoken sarcasm.

"We have some written works if you are interested," Godric offered unaware of the Queen's implied scepticism.

"Of course," she replied politely. Diplomacy had been her method of survival so far and she had yet to find motivation to abandon it. "Have one of my underlings take them," she said gesturing towards her generous entourage.

"Your child has a human companion?" Godric asked hoping to understand his own child's infatuation with one. Sookie was an enchanting girl but Eric had never taken note of a human for more than a night. Two at best.

"Yes," she cackled. "Isn't it darling? He thinks he's in love with her. It's so sad it's funny."

"You think it funny he is in love?" Godric asked confused.

"You must learn to play the game better than this if you seek to keep that crown firmly upon your head mon petite chouchou," she returned with a mischievous glint in her eye. "I said he _thinks_ he's in love with her."

"How are you so certain he's not?"

"I am his maker," she said amused as she shifted herself closer on the uncomfortable wooden bench. "I know him better than anyone. Better than the natural mother who bore him."

"You feel it through the bond," he stated rather then asked. The hollow emptiness he was experiencing at its dual loss coming back to the forefront of his mind again. Despite Eric and Cecily's physical presence the ache had returned stronger than ever before when in their proximity. It was as if the tethered bonds cried out to be rekindled.

"No," she dismissed offhandedly while readjusting the delicate lace of her sleeves. "I released him decades ago. I don't need the bond to _see_ the truth for what it is."

Godric looked at the Queen of Mississippi in shock. How she was able to know her own child so well without the bond puzzled him. He questioned whether he had relied too heavily on the bond in the past instead of observing his children like any other. Like a human parent would.

"What do you see if I may ask?"

"My child is incapable of loving himself. Always at war with his self," she spoke as if speaking causally of the weather. "How can he possibly love another? He loves me because he has to, I am his maker. He can only _hope_ to love this human."

"Love is involuntary," Godric said remembering Cecily's words from the previous evening.

"Are you trying to tell me something Godric," she whispered seductively with a wicked smile, while her delicate fingers traced the contours of his visible tattoos.

"No," he returned hastily brushing away the encroaching fingers. "I am not seeking any alliances at this moment in time."

"Very well," she said a little disappointed. "Perhaps we should speak of your own child. Or rather of your grandchild."

"What of her," Godric spoke with threat in his voice. While he had not discussed the circumstances with Eric of his progeny's demise, he was aware it was a sudden event. The Queen's knowledge of Pam had made him guarded and suspicious.

"I assumed the Viking would have raised her better than that."

"Better than what?" he questioned with the same clipped voice. The insult travelled beyond his child as the rearing of his grandchild reflected as heavily on him as it did on Eric.

"Taught her to check in with the local authority when running rampant round my state," she informed with glee with the discovery that the King of Louisiana seemed completely unaware of Pam's dealings. It eased her mind in the suspicions of whom she might be seeking out. "Especially in a helicopter. Could she be more obvious?"

Godric's face turned to stone at the realisation of how his son had been deceiving him. _Gone_ she was indeed. He had defied one of his maker's commands. How he managed that was the least of his concerns. He motioned to one of his pages.

"I will call for my child to apologise," he offered to the amused queen as he directed the servant to fetch Eric and Sookie. He had stressed the latter wondering if her telepathy had something to do with it. The fae were known tricksters and he wondered how innocent Ms Stackhouse truly was.

"Excellent, now that anybody who is anybody will be in attendance my child can join us," she announced with a saccharine tone that made Godric nauseous with the sound.

"Of course," Godric acquiesced his rage still boiling beneath the surface, however, his outward appearance remained the epitome of calm. "I apologise for not asking for him sooner. His name?"

"Why Bill Compton of course."

vVvVvVv

Tensions ran high in the throne room. Cecily had reluctantly left Jason behind to accompany Sookie and Eric. Godric had deferred his modest throne to the magister. His position did not outrank him but protocol demanded it nonetheless.

Initially taken aback by Bill's presence Sookie had plastered on her signature smile to steel her nerves and firmly clasped onto Eric at the sight. Neither one of them failed to notice the poorly withheld scowl of disgust that descended on Compton's face. Sookie inhaled deeply before sitting down on the punishingly hard bench. Even with the inability to read the present vampire's minds it was clear to her things were not as they should be in Godric's court.

She was seated beside Eric and Godric on one side while Bill and Lorena Krasiki, the Queen of Mississippi, sat across from them. It reminded Sookie of the court room setup of the previous night, be it in a more intimate range which only made her more anxious of what was to come. Eric soothed her nerves slightly by drawing languid circles on the back of her hand.

Godric and the magister continued their private conversation while Bill desperately tried to get Sookie's attention but she refused to hold his gaze. When she did look at him she would look right through him refusing to give him anything of herself anymore. Eric held her hand tightly in his while he clamped down on every instinct to take down the smug looking Bill Compton in a room full of witnesses.

As Godric and the magister finished up their conversation in his native Spanish tongue Godric turned his attention to his son.

"I wish to speak alone with my child and Ms Stackhouse," Godric announced to the others. With a round of consenting nods Eric and Sookie followed him obediently into his chambers where Cecily was hanging upside down from a ceiling beam.

"Hi papà," she greeted before landing on her feet.

"Cecily," Godric sighed at the sight of his other child.

"She's here?" Eric asked of Sookie who nodded in the affirmative. Eric had been able to have a lengthy conversation with Cecily before they were called away. However, as soon as Sookie disengaged her projection effort the apparition had disappeared to him again.

"The Queen of Mississippi just informed me Pam is in her state undocumented," Godric said with a cold heat tainting his tone. "You lied to me. She is not truly dead."

"No he didn't," Cecily quipped as Eric made the same statement. Cecily continued, "I told you she was not truly gone."

"You knew," he seethed at Cecily. "You aid him in this deception." At this point Sookie decided it was probably best to try her projection again for Eric's sake. Even though it had drained her energy earlier in the night while maintaining it.

"You heard what you wanted to hear," Cecily said unimpressed by his directed anger.

"I did not lie," Eric stated. "I released her because I felt it was best."

"You broke my command," he accused Eric while redirecting his anger towards him. "You embarrass me in front of another head of state."

"I will take responsibility for Pam's actions," Eric said with deference.

"How did you break my command?" he demanded his rage undeterred. It was now that Sookie understood the fear Eric had for his maker. As gentle as Godric seemed he possessed the opposite with as great a power as the former.

"I broke it," she admitted in a small voice before Eric was able to stop her.

"You two have been deceiving me this whole time," he accused, the disappointment cutting into Eric. A small tear sprang from the corner of Sookie's eye with the punishment of his words. "I should repudiate you," Godric continued to lash out.

"Survival or death," Cecily reminded her maker.

"This is not the time Cecily," Godric growled, minutely shaking his head with closed eyes. The pain cutting deeply with the betrayal of _both_ his children.

"She is right," Eric agreed. "I chose survival over death. I trust upon your teachings."

"I told a lie," he sighed, his tone heavy with dejection.

"You lie to yourself," Cecily accused, tapping away on the desk even though it registered no sound.

Silence plagued the room, the only noise coming from Sookie's nervous breath and erratically palpitating heartbeat.

"Will you choose her over your own survival?" Godric asked of Eric motioning to Sookie. His tone had tempered with the descended quietude.

"Yes," he said without hesitance surprising everyone in the room apart from the red headed apparition who merely nodded her assent.

"But not I," Godric stated as he felt the knife cut deeper inside of him. It pained him more than any wound that had drawn blood.

"Involuntary," Cecily clarified.

"You released me before I did you," Godric declared with a hint of grief to his only son. With that realisation Godric acknowledged that he had indeed spent far too long relying on the bond as an indicator of truth. It had fabricated the truth he sought rather than what he saw. He held his child's loyalty but no longer his life. If he ever held it at all.

It only dawned upon Godric now that Eric was able to recognise Cecily's presence. At Sookie's pained expression he devised she had found some way to facilitate this. The faeling apparently had more skills beyond the reading of minds. His fear that she was the coordinator of this chaos seemed unfounded now. This mess was of his own creation.

"Apologise to the Queen of Mississippi and we will head to Shreveport as planned," Godric finally said dismissively before storming out of the room.

Eric nodded and they proceed to return to the throne room. A public apology was given and accepted. Eric would be sure to inform Pam to check in with the Jackson sheriff. Her check in was a mere formality and officially Pam still had 72 hours left before it was considered trespassing. It was not the point of the exercise. The Queen needed to know what Pam was up to and on whose behalf. The added consternation between maker and child was simply a bonus to her schemes.

"There is an issue with the human," the magister said spitting out the last word with disgust while looking over to Sookie.

"What about her?" Godric asked as Cecily growled with what could be best described as fire's breath.

"She is hanging off the wrong vampire," the magister stated administratively. "Mr Compton seeks to take her to Mississippi. Hand her over."

"I am not his," Sookie exclaimed while Eric tried to hold her back unsuccessfully. He gave her a warning glance that begged her to remain calm.

"You will not speak unless spoken to human," the magister commanded with a clear distaste for her. "Sit," he barked.

She obeyed even though every bone in her body told her not to. Eric's pleading face made her finally comply. The magister looked upon his stack of papers.

"Mr Compton acknowledged her as his in the presence of multiple vampires in the presence of his Sheriff. Northman you did not claim her for yourself as by Sheriff rights would allow."

"No. I did not at the time," Eric replied.

"You have since?" the magister asked looking up from the stack of paperwork.

"Yes six nights prior." With that admission Bill looked incensed at Sookie. She ignored it as best she could. Sookie may have felt some remorse over her adulterous behaviour in the past but now she couldn't care less for his feelings.

"So after your maker took the throne," he remarked scribbling a side note on his tablet. "Any witnesses?" Eric shook his head no.

"I need you to say it," the magister said indicating at the recording device.

"No," Eric replied with the faintest hint of defeat. He didn't dare look at Sookie anymore.

"Her skill set was known to you on the night Mr Compton claimed her?" the magister continued his interrogation.

"Yes. I offered her a contract after ascertaining her skill."

"Yes," the magister replied leafing through the file and finding Cataliades' draft. "Convenient that it took so long to draw up. No salary either, obviously still under negotiations. The contract is unsigned and therefore deemed invalid." He continued to look through the rest of the paperwork before announcing, "I rule that the human belongs to Mr Compton. His claim precedes all others. Mr Northman was no longer in function as Sheriff and the rights had expired."

Godric held back his son with a warning glare not unlike the one Eric had given Sookie earlier. It took every ounce of control that Eric had ever garnered not to act out in rage and erupt in a bloody massacre of the pathetic excuse of a vampire. Piece by piece and inch by inch. Eric wanted every nerve ending in the Civil War veteran's body to endure a lengthened and never ending pain. Death would be too kind for the likes of Bill Compton.

"We do not treat humans in this manner in Louisiana," Godric informed the magister with a pained look on his face. Despite the diminished bond the rage that resided in Eric filtered through strongly regardless. It was the first thing he truly felt in days.

"This is an interstate conflict," the magister responded unimpressed. "Standard vampire law stands."

"His claim was unfounded," Sookie blurted out remembering Pam's words. "I was an innocent at the time."

The magister gave her annoyed expression for speaking up once again. He loathed humans for anything beyond a snack and this one was especially disobedient. "You had his blood inside you according to your own statement."

"That was for healing me," she said hoping it to be a credible defence.

"It does not matter how it got there Ms Stackhouse, it just matters that it was there. By my nose it is still there in abundance."

"Claim me," she seethed at Eric who could only gift her with an apologetic face.

"Very cute Ms Stackhouse," the magister drawled. "His claim would not be warranted until Mr Compton released his. Northman let his sheriff rights expire knowingly. According to the King of Louisiana's own notes at initial inquiry Mr Northman still recognised Mr Compton's claim five nights ago when he arrived at the palace here. Northman's claim is simply an opportune ploy to keep a telepath bound to his state. Now be a good little human," he spoke dismissively waving his hand at her. "Go with Mr Compton."

"Unclaim me now!" she screamed at Bill.

"Sookie, no. I love you I will never let you go," Bill said with a pained look on his face. The expression Pam always described as constipated. One she had defended on his behalf. Sookie deeply regretted it now. "I know you're scared of leaving Louisiana but we will have a beautiful life together."

"Stick it where the sun don't shine," she fumed. "Actually take all the rays the sun is willing to shine on you, asshole! This is why you falsely accused Eric isn't it. So you can prove your claim and kidnap me to some other queen. You're fucking disgusting Bill Compton."

"Says the slattern who jumped the first vampire she came across when I was dragged away," he retorted with ice in his voice.

"Screw you Bill Compton," she snapped back with fire. "I'm not going anywhere with you. You'll need my compliance for my telepathy and you're not getting it."

Lorena laughed loudly at the scene, "You really think we need your compliance. Oh Bill she is just darling, I can't wait to break her in." Eric flew out in rage at her words before his maker physically had to rein him in. The Queen of Mississippi sat regally and un-flinched at his impending attack knowing that her own security team sat firmly in place behind her ready at her defence. No matter how strong and old Eric Northman may be, the Queen of Mississippi invested heavily in her own personal safety with due cause.

"Perhaps I have a solution that works for all," Lorena said delighted at the chaos that was ensuing. At her words Bill looked at her in shock, they were meant to be departing with Sookie in hand. There had been no discussion of other plans.

"Marriage," Godric said as he saw the trap that had been laid before him. Twice in one night had he been the victim of ploys of deceit.

"Yes Godric," she condescended with a tickle of laughter. "You do seem to catch on fast. That crown will remain on you head just a little longer."

"I will agree to a hundred year alliance if he releases her claim."

"Enticing but no," she returned with great satisfaction. She had come here to blackmail Godric into a marriage with the rights to a telepath. The Northman's infatuation with her had only shored up her bargaining position. "I seek a joining of our states."

"The Authority will agree to this?" Godric asked of the magister knowing full well that Lorena had already discussed this at length with them. It wouldn't surprise him if the magister had aided Lorena in her request. His moral character was hardly one he aspired to.

"The Authority will approve this," the magister answered twirling his cane on the edge of his palm. "It has been too tumultuous in the southern states for far too long."

Godric looked over at the golden haired twosome. Sookie lay shaking in Eric's arms as he tried to soothe her while tampering down on his own rage. The damage had already been done in listening to Bill Compton by allowing his case to be heard Sookie's fate had been cemented. She would once again be a pawn in the politics of vampires through no fault of her own. Involuntarily.

"Love," Cecily said to her maker. "It even inspires others."

A pleading look from Eric determined his decision.

"The telepath remains free to do as she sees fit. She works for us by choice," Godric proposed to Lorena. "Eric will be her liaison unless she indicates otherwise."

"Agreed," Lorena smiled triumphantly. She saw no value in the telepath anyhow and for the sake of her child she preferred her away from the Mississippi court.

"Negotiations will begin as soon as Compton relinquishes his claim."

"Very well. You are still recording?" Lorena asked the magister who indicated he was. "Bill let the little human go."

"No!" Bill cried like a petulant _human_ child. Eric noted he was putting Pam to shame in his little tantrum. It was now Eric who carried the smuggest grin in the room. "You promised I would be able to keep her."

Before Sookie could blink Bill was thrust upon the hard wood bench lying on his back at the mercy of his maker who sat astride him. She held an ornamental stake with a silver tip over his heart with the royal insignia of the state of Mississippi engraved in the sides. Smoke was already emanating through the thin linen material of his shirt.

"I am your maker," she hissed. "You dare defy me. Release her or as your maker I will end you, as is my right. Either way your claim ends."

He stared at her wide eyed, pleading with Lorena to give him this small crumb, the only thing he ever wanted in his damned eternity. The Queen of Mississippi's hard glare left no room for discourse. Bill Compton would never win with her. Not even a crumb. "I relinquish my claim," he finally sobbed out in defeat.

"Get him to the palace," Lorena instructed as she tossed a whimpering Bill across the room to a pair of her bodyguards. Two other vampires in business attire stepped forward at her beckoning fingers to begin the negotiations.

"Sookie, I love you!" Bill screamed while he was carried away and out of the throne room, red tears staining the white linen of his scorched tunic.

She merely cried tears of relief in Eric's arms. "I claim Sookie Stackhouse as my own until _she_ indicates otherwise," Eric stated for the record. Sookie looked up with tear glistened eyes and mouthed 'thank you' to him. She was touched to know he had given her an out after what had just happened with Bill's claim.

He kissed her softly on her forehead as her exhaustion was overtaking her. The exertion of projecting Cecily for Eric and the emotional rollercoaster of the night and the one previous was taking its toll on her. Eric took her and cradled her in his arms as het got up.

"If our presence is no longer necessary," he said eying Lorena, acknowledging that their part in her little play was done. A sinister smile confirmed as much. "We will take our leave. My liege, we will join you in Shreveport tomorrow when Sookie has recovered."

"I fear I will not be leaving until tomorrow either," Godric said as two Louisiana vampires entered to initiate the negotiations. "Good night my child."

Eric nodded and took Sookie to their bedroom. He placed her softly on their shared bed, already fast asleep in the cradle of his arms. He carefully arranged the covers around her, Eric removed her jeans leaving her in a t-shirt and underwear. A small smile travelled across his face as he observed the little dainty hearts on her cotton underpants. The innocence of her still present in parts, he was glad Bill Compton had not been able to steal that away from her. He entered the adjoining bathroom to wet a soft cloth in order to clean the tear tracks from her face. As he gently dabbed at her face she stirred a little.

"You were right," she said as she looked into his soft blue eyes. "We should have left."

"Shh," he soothed before chastely kissing her on the lips. "You're mine now I won't let anything happen to you."

"Not to me, no," she whispered. "Poor Godric has to marry that awful woman."

"He made his bed," Cecily informed appearing behind Eric.

"You're harsh Cecily," Sookie exhaled. After which she relayed to Eric what Cecily had spoken, it was less straining than the projection at this point.

"Vampire politics are harsh, beloved. Not unlike your human ones," he offered while he caressed his thumb over her cheek. "Godric seeks to distance himself from it, so instead it comes to knock on his doorstep."

"You two don't seem that bothered at the prospect of your new wicked step-mother," Sookie sighed.

"Godric negotiated your release before the actual pledging," Eric explained. "Lorena greedily accepted. She doesn't seem to have an interest in your telepathy. Her thirst for power will be her downfall. Negotiations for marriage can take decades sometimes centuries. A claim is a claim, it cannot be overturned. Except by you," he finished with a soft smile. She granted him a grateful one as she remembered his generous addendum.

"So we were all just lubricants to her plans. You me and Bill?"

"Unfortunately yes," Eric replied, hating that he too had been played in her house of cards. Luckily Lorena was a weak card player, she had already shown her hand.

"Godric secures her crown," Cecily offered. "As she does his."

Sookie nodded sleepily at Cecily. The sounds of thunder and pelting rain filled the silence in the room. A shot of lightning jolted through the darkness.

"Lie with me," she asked of Eric as Cecily waved her goodbye for the night. "Just for a little bit."

"Of course," Eric said and stripped down to move behind her and spooned her into his body. "I'm not leaving you alone."

"I was always scared of thunder as a child," she confessed as she interlaced her fingers with his. Another rumbling sound trembled through the room as Eric turned out all the lights.

"Me too," he admitted when it was fully dark, the room only illuminated by the waning moon. She turned her body to face his with an incredulous look.

"Really?" she questioned and he simply nodded. "Big Bad Vampire Sheriff was scared of thunder?" Sookie asked as a small smile crept into her saddened features.

"You'd be amazed what scares me," he acknowledged without thinking about it.

"What?" she enquired as the pad of her index finger trailed down his chest.

"The thought of losing you," he returned as he pulled her palm to his mouth and kissed it softly.

"Why do you care for me so?" she asked nuzzling their interlaced hands, their foreheads now barely held apart.

"That scares me too," he admitted as she drifted off to sleep.

…

…

…

**A/N: Sorry vegans but as a vegetarian I need someone to pick on ;). I sincerely doubt that Sookie would enjoy your offerings with het Southern Comfort food tastes. At least at first. **

**I put some pictures up on the blog of what I imagine Godric's palace looks like, albeit a more detailed and architecturally designed version of it. Direct link is in my profile or navigate to it on hisviks dot wordpress dot com. Pictures are at the bottom of the page in a slideshow, there's a new character banner for the Queen of Mississippi too.**


	11. Chapter 10 - Exposure

"_I was always scared of thunder as a child," she confessed as she interlaced her fingers with his. Another rumbling sound trembled through the room as Eric turned out all the lights._

"_Me too," he admitted when it was fully dark, the room only illuminated by the waning moon. She turned her body to face his with an incredulous look._

"_Really?" she questioned and he simply nodded. "Big Bad Vampire Sheriff was scared of thunder?" Sookie asked as a small smile crept into her saddened features. _

"_You'd be amazed what scares me," he acknowledged without thinking about it._

"_What?" she enquired as the pad of her index finger trailed down his chest._

"_The thought of losing you," he returned as he pulled her palm to his mouth and kissed it softly._

"_Why do you care for me so?" she asked nuzzling their interlaced hands, their foreheads now barely held apart._

"_That scares me too," he admitted as she drifted off to sleep._

Chapter 10 - Exposure

The storm that had started the night previous was still ensuing as Sookie woke in the early afternoon. Her growling stomach was urging her to eat but the thought of that awful canteen food kept her firmly locked in her vampire embrace. She wondered whether she could have food delivered until she realised her purse was still under the seat of her car in Mississippi.

Her bladder called to attention and she reluctantly removed herself from her warm spot. When she lost all contact with Eric the whirring of many frantic minds assaulted her own all at once.

"Fuck," Sookie cringed as she latched back onto Eric's body to delve back into the peaceful void of his mind.

"You ok," he mumbled in his half sleep.

"Lots of busy minds," she responded while pressing her forehead to his chest as if it were a cold compress for her suddenly assaulted mind. "Why aren't you dead to the world?"

"The storm is blocking the sun," he replied opening his eyes to her. "It makes the day rest haphazard. Come back to lie with me," he offered a kiss to her palm as an incentive when she threatened to move away again.

"I have human needs to take care of," she smiled down with a hinted blush of embarrassment. "I'll be back before you know it." Sookie slowly let go of his touch while simultaneously bringing up her shields.

While taking care of her business she scanned the perimeters for recognizable minds regretting checking in on her brother. Suddenly she stumbled upon two familiar minds and all but sprinted out of the bedroom suite. Eric called after her in confusion but she hardly heard him as she ran up the stairs in search of Sam and Lafayette and shouted out for them.

"Sookie," Sam exclaimed as he took in the blonde telepath in her long shirt that barely covered the sight of her underwear. "You're ok?"

"Yes," she panted out. "How are things back in Bon Temps?"

"Shit," Lafayette said with a wince. "You're Granmamma's house is a mess but at least the party moved out of town."

"What happened?" Sookie asked with worry for the fate of their home town.

"There was some sort of sacrifice on your lawn but Dionysus didn't show up," Sam explained. To which Lafayette added a sarcastic, "Surprise, surprise."

"Like a human sacrifice?" Sookie asked with disbelieving eyes as she picked up the vague mental images from their minds.

"Yes," Sam supplied with a hint of sadness. "The new waitress Daphne. An assortment of animals were sacrificed when nothing happened. There were some physical injuries and some destruction to property. Nothing that can't be repaired, cher. The glamour squad Godric sent cleaned it up as well as making the town believe it was a gas leak."

"I'm so sorry Sam," Sookie said pulling him into a consoling hug as his mind revealed the grief he felt over the new woman in his life. "How did you two end up here?" she asked as Sam disentangled from their silent embrace.

"Big tall and blonde and little Ricky helped us out so we be here to helps in return," Lafayette said with a slight nerve to his voice, in preparing what to say next he kindly rested his hand on Sookie's shoulder. "Tara still seems unwilling to leave that Maryann's side."

Sookie gasped, the close contact opened up Lafayette's mind as the events in her absence raced through her mind. A Tara enthralled, eyes turned dark and unreachable. She was most shocked by the indoctrination of Steve and Sarah Newlin on the young influential minds of the children of Bon Temps.

"Sookie," a voice bellowed from behind her before a naked body wrapped his body round hers disengaging her from Lafayette's active mind.

"Eric what the hell," Sookie snapped as she burned up with embarrassment over his nudity. "Cover yourself."

"I am," he smirked while pulling her backside firmly over the offending genitalia.

"You can't just stand about naked in the hallway," she admonished before she whisper yelled, "What will my friends think."

"Nothing they haven't seen before," he shrugged before greeting them, "French fry, Shifter why aren't you in Shreveport?"

"The children are back with their parents now that the maenad has moved on out of town," Sam explained. "We tried talking sense into Lafayette's cousin but she was lost in her control. She revealed that Maryann is coming to the new king to pay him a visit. We figured our help was more needed here."

"Very well. You two are dismissed," he commanded. The two nodded as they continued on their way to the library after they reluctantly greeted Sookie goodbye.

"I do not like you out of the bed," Eric growled huskily to the shell of her ear.

"Well get used to it," she huffed out thoroughly annoyed at his callous dismissal of her friends. She quickly turned around in his tight hold making sure his parts remained firmly covered and stared him down with all the force of her infamous temper. "I need to eat and the food here is inedible."

"I am sure Godric has provided proper nourishment for the humans," Eric returned indifferently.

"If you're a Buddhist monk maybe. It's like the human equivalent of True Blood," she whined a little. A tone that was a rare thing to behold for them both. "As much as you like my scent, eating _that_ would cause other smells to come out of me," Sookie said with an embarrassed face.

"I'm sure they would smell like roses coming from your delectable ass," he teased caressing the soft globes in demonstration of his testament.

"I sincerely doubt it," she grumbled shoving off the pawing hands only then realising how exposed her own lower half was. "Do you really want to find out?"

"No," he answered with an amused grin before yelling down the hallway, "French fry! Get my Sookie something she enjoys to eat. None of that vegan crap!"

Lafayette merely nodded in understanding as Sookie yelled at Eric. "You can't speak to people like that! His name is Lafayette not French Fry."

"He owes a great debt for his dealings," Eric said disdainfully. "Feeding Pam and fetching you food is a drop in the water compared to the punishment he would normally suffer for his crimes."

She reluctantly agreed, there wasn't much known about vampire justice but it was common knowledge that a caught drainer never returned alive, only further driving up the prices of the valuable stock they sold. "Can we go back down now?" Sookie asked tentatively. "I'm really not comfortable at everyone staring at your naked ass."

He smirked at her continued blushing. "Are we feeling possessive over my naked ass?"

"Eric!"

"I'll only display it to you if that makes you feel better," he continued to tease. "That does leave the front exposed."

"Just vamp your ass down," she spewed out.

"Only if you join me," he replied as he launched them both at warp speeds back into their subterranean suite with her screams echoing through the barren halls.

vVvVvVv

"This is Nan Flanagan for The Authority," the blonde vampiress informed to the blackened computer screen where only a red light indicated that the connection was live.

"Thank you for joining us Ms Flanagan," came the voice of the anonymous vampire, who she now knew to be the Guardian. "How goes things in Wisconsin?"

"As expected," she replied curtly. "The new queen has been instated with the backing of the current sheriffs. There will be _no_ more incidents in this god forsaken territory."

"You seem awfully sure of that," a female vampire's voice cackled with the sound of her own voice. Nan refrained from rolling her eyes reflexively in response.

"It's what you pay me for," Nan Flanagan replied testily.

"It's certainly not for your looks," the unidentifiable female retorted again, inciting the laughs of her colleagues. The sour look on Nan Flanagan's face only sustained their hilarity further.

"Does the Authority have any pressing matters for the AVL?" she tried in a vain attempt to refocus the members of the Authority to matters at hand. Their isolation tended to breed cabin fever and she was more often than not the brunt of it.

"You pushed for Godric of Gaul to ascend Louisiana's throne," another faceless vampire spoke with a hint of a foreign accent that Nan was incapable of placing. "Do you continue to stand behind him?"

"He has vision beyond the mainstreaming agenda, that will benefit both humans and our race," she replied automatically. The concept of co-existence being one she had been reciting since the days of the Enlightenment. In Godric's leadership she saw a vision beyond those early beginnings that had taken so long to take hold among their kind. "His incapacitation of the Fellowship of the Sun by working with them has delivered some of the staunchest anti vampire activists in your dungeons."

"You are informing us of facts already known," a nasal voice spoke icily. "The Guardian asked if you continue to support his leadership."

"You approved the union with Mississippi without my counsel," Nan replied with a poorly veiled sneer. "Why seek it now?"

"I think this is what we pay you for," came the voice of the Guardian. "What do you make of the scarcely populated states, whose numbers are rapidly depleting since the Gaul's ascend."

"We have all reached the age to know that promises of a better tomorrow always lead the flock to a shepherd," Nan Flanagan replied with a small shrug. "If it keeps the populations in line I see no harm in it."

"Men are like sheep, of which a flock is more easily driven than a single one," came the distinctly voice of an elder vampire who in Nan's memory never voiced much.

"Robert Whately," the spokeswoman sourced from the depths of her aged mind. The author was a favoured thinker of her own maker which left her incapable not to respond in the way in which she had been taught. "What are your concerns?" she continued with irritation, her attentions wandering to her nightly snack that was prancing around tauntingly in the background. It was bad enough she had to indulge in the vile bottles of synthetic blood at all hours of the night in her public role. Now the authority seemed to take its leisurely time in distracting her from the demands of her parched fangs.

"He is collecting quite the flock," the Guardian responded. "If he defeats the rumoured maenad as he intends to, his numbers will grow exponentially."

"He threatens our authority," another vampire hissed in distaste with the events that had passed.

"The ones who join him are of no threat," Nan replied. "They are the isolated antisocial kind. They have lived in seclusion of both man and vampire for centuries without cause."

"Where have all these pissy vampires been hiding all this time?" the tittering voice of a female vampire mused.

"The lone wolves are always more dangerous than the pack," the accented speech of the elder vampire dispensed sagely.

"There are rumours not all of his subjects are with him by choice," another vampire spoke out with concern.

"His regime is strict but fair," Nan acknowledged with admiration for Godric's reign. "Anyone not associated with the regime was allowed to leave peacefully, in accordance with our law. He offered sanctuary to any of the old regime who wished to join him."

"You would do well to listen to our concerns Ms Flanagan," the elder vampire spoke again. "It is not the flock we worry for. It is the one who drives it. Need we remind you of the circumstances of the former King of Mississippi?"

"Of course not," she replied. "It is how I came to work for you. The Gaul might hear things but he is of sound mind. He is of no threat to our kind or others"

"He gave his child to a human," another vampire hissed in sheer disgust.

"As I understand it he released him by request of the human," Nan stated simply. "It is not our place to intercept in the dealings between maker and child."

"It is when the child does not actively support the regime of his maker," the Guardian spoke with distaste. "The Northman has refused to reassert his Sherriff's title and his child was released during the regime change. His former retinue has disbanded into surrounding states. We all know Kings and Queens are interchangeable, it is the Sheriffs that guard our order."

"Northman has always been stubborn and resistant to change," Nan countered as a small snort echoed through the chambers of The Authority. "He will serve his maker if he requests it."

"The maenad is said to move south to New Orleans," the Guardian informed. "We wish you to be present. If the Gaul is unsuccessful you will make sure the Northman takes the throne."

"And if he is successful?"

"Then we should all dust off our bibles and attend Sunday mass," the accented vampire deadpanned to the laughs of his fellow members.

"Frat boys," Nan Flanagan cursed as the light above the dark screen dissipated again.

vVvVvVv

Godric was pacing back and forth restlessly in his day chamber. It seemed as if everything and everyone was conspiring against him, including the weather. He didn't feel it as strongly through his diminished bonds but Godric could clearly hear the sounds and smells of sex and fresh blood wafting into his heightened senses.

All that he had been abstaining from for decades was taunting at his resolves, the rare sight of his own arousal seemingly refusing to die down. No matter what method of meditation he applied every nerve ending stood at attention of the sins surrounding him. The rhythmic gyration over the band of rosary beads seemed the only movement distracting enough of his baser urges encouraging him to partake in it all.

Before the invention of synthetic blood Godric had fed sparingly from blood banks, only ever near starvation. He had used his glamour to retrieve the blood that would be discarded due to disease or expiration. The quality of no importance to him, it sustained him and that was all he cared for.

Now his children were testing his faith in their complete abhorrence of his doctrine. It seemed he had sired children with insatiable appetites. The only pause Eric seemed to allow his object of affection was for her own nourishment. And by the noises she was making for the greasy foods Godric gathered it was hardly a break from Eric's unrelenting appetite of her. The moans were identical. So was his son's encouragement of them.

He wondered if it was some innate gift of the Stackhouses as he dully stared at the clock ticking away as he tried to suppress the beast that had been ruling him for centuries. Perhaps it was the unique composition of Fae laced blood, the taste of Cecily at her turning had never left the memory of his palate.

"Hello papà," Cecily blissfully sighed out as she stretched out across his bed.

"You have satiated your appetite of the boy then?" Godric asked at her sudden appearance.

"Not quite," she smirked while readjusting her dress to cover herself again. "I am sure we are up for another round after his rest." Cecily shifted her gaze as she crawled over towards him. "I can ask him if you wish to join us," she said hungrily rubbing at the bulge in his loose fitting pants.

"No," he hissed moving out of her grasp instantly. "I no longer partake in those activities."

"You realise a royal marriage requires certain obligations," she taunted with a roll of her eyes and a petulant huff that sent her hair billowing into the air.

"I think I liked you better when you were silent," Godric grumbled.

"How long has it been?"

He remained quiet as he nearly blurted out 'too long'. His memory not withstanding he could only vaguely guess a minimum of a century.

"Allow me a reminder," she said huskily as her dress fell to the floor of her rakishly thin body.

"No," he stated sternly clamping down on his jaws and averting his eyes of her naked body.

"Join me and Jason," Cecily pleaded as a moan escaped her while running her fingers through her folds. "He is very talented."

"No," Godric repeated closing his eyes desperately seeking refuge in meditation while his hands moved at ever increasing speeds over the rosary beads.

"YES!" a scream came across the hall as Sookie chanted on her lover's attentions.

Godric groaned in pain at the sounds and smells that were haunting him. Again. "NO," he said more forcibly as Cecily pulled at the drawstring of his pants. She simply pouted sullenly in return as if a favoured toy had been stolen from her grasp.

"Perhaps you prefer to watch instead," she teased and switched on the security monitors showing a split screen of the two bedrooms that had produced the sounds and smells that were testing him since waking. "Ah look my stud rises, in more ways than one," she smirked, thoroughly pleased as Godric's attention flew to the screen. Her ethereal body started to disappear from the room once more, pleased with her momentary triumph.

"Enjoy the show," was the last Godric heard before he once again succumbed to his personal agony.

vVvVvVv

"Honey I'm hoooome," a voice bellowed out.

"Darling I'm a vampire. Must you yell so loud?" Pam replied with amusement as she continued to file away at her nails. "Tell me honey-boo, how was your day?"

"Splendid darling! I brought dinner," he answered wile dropping the carcass in the middle of the room.

"Good," she replied not looking up at the sound of the loud thud. "Because I don't cook."

"Could have fooled me," Russell smirked. "You look quite the domestic goddess."

"Don't let the pink fool you," Pam retorted as she scornfully looked at the dead body on the floor. "I may not cook, but I do know we still don't eat animals. Don't tell me you're reading about sparkly vampires too."

"It's for the children of course," Russell scoffed while he whistled for his wolves. At his signal they all attacked the dead dear ripping it to pieces. "Aaah, the sound of flesh ripping in the morning. Tell me poppet is there anything better?"

"Vampire flesh," she said with reminiscence in her eyes. Pam enjoyed a good battle as much as the next vampire after all.

"The thirst of youth," he drawled with appreciation. "Enjoy it while you can Pinkie, it gets rather dreary in old age."

"You're not old," she declared with a twinkle in her gaze. "You're just time challenged."

"You do take ass kissing to a whole new level Ms Swyndon de Beaufort."

"What else am I supposed to with a gay man?" she smirked while batting her lashes incessantly. "And have you seen my master's ass?"

He cackled at Pam's wit. Russell had been desperately trying to see Eric's ass in the flesh for centuries but he had always remained aloof to his attentions much to Russell's dismay. "It's a very fine one indeed," he acknowledged in rhetoric defeat.

He put down his newspaper on the end table while he positioned himself towards Pam on the sofa. She just continued to stare at him expectantly with her distinctly frozen features in place. "I have news," he announced offhandedly while lighting up a cigar. "You're getting a new meemaw."

"What?" Pam said spurting out the vile True Blood she was nursing, shooting her legendary stoic façade to bits. Russell gave her a look that suggested she better clean her mess soon. After all he was far more of a domestic goddess than Pam would ever be.

"You realise I have a mailbox for my newspaper," he stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world for a cave to have such a thing.

"The newspaper is reporting on vampire marriages now?" Pam asked with furrowed eyebrows as she cleaned up her spewed out mess with her preternatural speeds. "I can just imagine the notification already, _The couple that loves to drain a bitch together."_

"That sounds more like us doodles," he replied amused while dropping the intelligence document in her lap. "They would be something much more mundane. Like _Together with fangs in their heart."_ He finished off his announcement with splayed out fingers crossing the palms of his hands out in semicircles as if it were some big reveal.

Pam scanned the classified file reading through the latest events that were happening in the Mississippi court including the publication of the impending marriage of her grandsire to that vile Compton's maker.

"So Jazz hands," she said after speed reading through, "how attached to that retirement are you?"

"What do you think sweet pea?"

"Well you did always look good with a crown," she quipped.

"You're lucky we vampires don't defecate," Russell returned with a hint of malice. "Your skin would be stained brown with the way you stick your nose up in it."

Pam pulled a face of distaste in response for his amusement with her fingers firmly clamped down over her nostrils.

"You will do just fine at court," he cackled approvingly. "I already have my jester."

vVvVvVv

Godric switched off the monitors with haste and the person who knocked on his door instantly relieved him of the burden testing the limits of his linen pants.

"Good evening Lorena," he greeted with some enthusiasm at the dwindling desire that her presence brought.

"Mmmm," she smiled contentedly sampling the air with fangs itching to descend. "This wing of the building certainly smells delicious. I thought you and your followers abstained from such activities."

"My child makes his own decisions," Godric said apologetically. There was little shame in no longer controlling a released child, however, his shame came from the personal failing to convince Eric of the virtues he prescribed too. "He does not share my faith," he added with regret.

"Such responsibilities," she noted with a knowing face. "I fear the storm has escalated into an impending hurricane. We will remain here till it has passed with your permission."

"Of course. There were no warnings." Godric's brows furrowed setting his face in deep thought. "The humans are usually so good at predicting these things."

"Well they were late," Lorena shrugged unimpressed by the cattle that shaped their world. "The human population has been evacuating since dawn."

"Excuse me," Godric apologised. "I must take care my people have adequate protection."

"By all means," she purred out moving closely into his personal space. Godric's arousal may have diminished at her sighting but the scents and sounds of carnal pleasures certainly had given rise to her excitement. Lorena barely managed to contain the persistent pressure of her dainty fangs threatening to shoot out of her gums as if she were a newborn again. "May I join you? If we are to rule together it will be good to observe."

"Of course," he responded not in the mood to argue with the manipulative vampire and happy for an excuse to depart the heavily scented quarters. "Allow me to warn my son."

Lorena and her team of guards followed Godric closely as he softly knocked on the door that seemed the source of the intoxicating perfume. All but Godric's fangs ran out at scent.

"Fuck off!"

"Eric, Ms Stackhouse," Godric spoke gently at the door. "It is of importance that I speak to you."

After overhearing some muffled arguing back and forth the door swung open with an impatient vampire standing erect, in more ways than one as Cecily had noted earlier. Godric tried desperately to avert his own hungry graze over his child's form. He was somewhat bemused by the comforter tied around his waist. Eric had never possessed an ounce of modesty, let alone when it came to his most enviable feature.

"Yes Godric," he said impatiently as a hungry graze of his own went sideways to the enticing little telepath in the bed who was desperately trying to cover the apparent sin they were both participating in.

"The storm has progressed into a hurricane," Godric informed. "You will need to seek shelter above ground. I do not wish Ms Stackhouse or her brother to be inadvertently drowned."

"We will move," Eric answered curtly, his tone changing instantly from distracted and annoyed to commanding. He was well aware of the flooding dangers on the property. He had to listen to Sophie Anne's incessant whining about her ruined chambers and wardrobe the last time a hurricane swept through New Orleans. "Anything else?"

"No," Godric replied unsure of how to ask for his son's impeccable organisational skills and aid. "Please make sure our remaining human guests and staff are properly accommodated."

"Sophie Anne moved her chambers to the attic space after the last hurricane. They were built to resist hurricanes," Eric offered thoughtfully. "If they are not in use by others I will take them there."

"They are the only rooms untouched by my followers that night," Godric sighed with the memory of those night's events. "They thought I would appreciate them for myself but I preferred the simplicity of the basement."

Eric nodded in understanding and closed the door on the envious onlookers. Godric overheard Sookie admonish his child for his lack of manners before giggles overtook her and the orchestra of an extremely springy bed continued again.

With an unnecessarily heavy sigh Godric wondered where Eric pulled his continued zest for life from. At his age Godric was already becoming weary in old age. The young telepath had certainly awoken tempered flames but even without her, Eric never succumbed to the same darkened depths that he carried inside.

Godric had turned the Viking at around the age Eric was now after admiring him from afar on the battlefield, which he had followed around with a childish delight. Vampire strengths and battles were impressive to behold but there was such a primal attraction in hand to hand combat at which the Norse men so excelled.

Had he been a lesser vampire at the time he would have bound Eric to him as a pet. He despised the practice but it was the only way to keep a human by your side before the Great Reveal. Instead he chose to do what he had done with so many other humans that fascinated him over the centuries. He observed and documented their life seeking a narrative. He had many journals with the lives of unknown figures shaping the hands of time. Contributions great or small were recorded for eternity, which no historian would think to do for the extraordinarily ordinary man.

Eric had been fatally wounded in battle when his narrative was cut inconveniently short. Godric had only been watching for a few weeks at that time. Not content with the abrupt ending to his story, he offered Eric something he had vowed never to do after the death of Cecily again. He killed the two other souls accompanying him -their narrative had been unimpressive and he had held little regard for most humans at the time- and offered Eric a chance of another life. With a confirmed yes they had become inseparable companions for many centuries till he detected his waning wanderlust no longer matched the voracious appetites of his child.

His son had always managed to surprise him. He didn't fear the darkness that lay within their existence nor did he get lost in it like Godric himself had. Perhaps that was Eric's saving grace, he didn't lose himself in what he became. As a newborn it became evident quickly that Eric responded well to boundaries and order. It was why Eric had never been released, Godric feared for what an existence without control would mean for him. He was more manageable than Cecily ever was, whose impulsive streak had to be all but beaten out of her.

Knowing Cecily now and in the present again Godric realised he never succeeded in breaking her will as his maker had instructed him to do. In the eyes of his cruel maker both his children would be considered utter failures in their rearing by allowing them so much of their self to remain intact.

Godric had never displayed his affection overtly towards his children. It was always wrapped within lessons or in guidance. Regardless, it was always present within him and was just as strong when he had fought for Eric to keep his Sookie by his side. His child's happiness meant more to him than being stuck with an offensive queen for a century if it came to that. He took comfort in the fact that he would most likely not have to endure it for such a length of time.

He sat down in his throne room that had been shrouded in darkness and started summoning the appropriate contacts to ensure the safety of the city. Lorena had even offered some sound advice here and there before she brought his attention back to their marriage negotiations. Her interruptions had been marginal. Godric prayed that if this was a glimpse of their future working relationship then he could abide with it with little qualm.

vVvVvVv

"Shit," Lafayette said as he took in the opulent private quarters of the former queen. "This place gots some bad juju."

Sookie couldn't help but agree. Not only were the decorations downright gaudy and ostentatious but the whole space felt creepy in its vaulted abandonment. She hated the former queen for her intended deception by the hands of Bill. Had she simply asked for her aid, like Eric, she would have offered some compliance. However, Sookie was glad to have found Eric in the process of meeting Bill. Though things certainly weren't easy with all the things happening around them, she was content to be able to lean on someone so strong. More importantly he leant on her with equal need. That meant more to her than she ever would have thought.

They had a strange start and she vowed if anyone ever asked her how they met she'd tweak the story a bit. Not that she felt shame over cheating on Bill in the process. She hadn't felt it in the moment, when Sam had told her of his fate she had said her final goodbyes. Perhaps it was comfort in that collective loss that she had sought with Eric at the time.

If she was truthful it wasn't really that. There had been an instant connection between her and Eric. That lived beyond mere attraction. Even Bill had commented on its presence at the time. Kismet, fate, whatever it was, it scared her. Being with Bill felt safe in contrast. He had been a friendly vampire where every single one she had met until entering Fangtasia had been downright frightening. Eric had frightened her too but only now did Sookie realise she wasn't frightened of him but by him. What he could mean to her. What his rejection of her would be.

It startled her how easy being with him actually was. Maybe it was the stressful circumstances they were under that made everything of importance so much clearer. The smaller details left to rest immediately. They put each other's safety in front of everything else, having come so close to losing it all. Then again everything was still so new between them. She never imagined a thousand year old vampire could be like a teenage boy with need for her. It was flattering and overwhelming at the same time.

As they were touring the different opulently decorated rooms he seemed to be hungrily eying her again out of the corner of his eyes. She smiled shyly and that only seemed to further entice him. Hovering beside her till there was barely an inch of space between them.

Sookie's telepathy had been useful in locating all the humans on the premises that day. Many had departed in the early afternoon, which explained why there were so many frantic minds when she had woken. The minds of the Soldiers of the Sun were particularly unpleasant and she had whispered to Eric that under no circumstances should they be allowed anywhere near them.

There were only a handful of humans and weres left after that. Apparently the highly charged atmosphere of the storm made the two natured as restless as on a full moon. They were relegated to an old stable with a sturdy construction that had weathered many storms on the estate.

"I'll get some salt," a young woman named Tallulah said. She was the court witch under Sophie Anne's reign. Like Sookie, she had been procured to attend to the regent except her recruitment had been less deceptive. As a witch there was little she did not know of the supernatural world so Tallulah was simply given the choice to serve the queen or suffer the consequences.

She and Lafayette set to cleanse the rooms by dropping piles of salt in all the corners of the different rooms. After burning some sage she chanted a spell after which the salt piles were collected and deposited out the front door. The winds quickly lifted the salt up into the atmosphere the flecks of white disintegrating into the dark.

No one could quite understand it, but with Tallulah's intervention, the atmosphere in the rooms had vastly improved. The decoration was still awful but it didn't feel as sinister as it once did.

Sookie had set to changing all the bed linens while Lafayette started to cook a hearty meal. Eric had made sure to procure some decent foods after Sookie's complaints about the cafeteria meals. He mostly knew of Sookie's preferences and mannerisms from observation in their short acquaintance and he was certain that she was not one to complain about something so small unless the situation was really dire. She had been touched by his attentions to something as simple as her meal. Eric fully understood her disgust of the human equivalent of True Blood. He had tried the vile blood once and that was enough to last him an eternity.

Sookie sat contentedly in Eric's lap eating her dinner at the heavy baroque gilded table while praising Lafayette's cooking. She had already sent Eric several daggers with her eyes as he made it all too well known to their dinner companions how enticing Sookie was as she moaned throughout her dinner. Only with a threat of finding her own seat had he relented. Lafayette received equally deadly glares when he suggested she and Eric could make a killing filming their exploits.

At the scary looks from the blonde telepath Lafayette informed them of all of what they had discovered about maenads from the numerous volumes on the supernatural instead.

"Do you think she caused this weather?" Sookie mused as she contentedly let out her full tummy and relaxed into Eric's embrace. "If she incites sudden chaos, this isn't far off."

"It's possible," Tallulah stated with a deep-seated expertise. She had been the only of the human staff that had dared join their table at Sookie's continued insistence. "There are witches that can manipulate the weather. I am sure one as powerful as a maenad could do the same."

"Eric stop it," Sookie admonished softly as he trailed kisses down her neck.

"You auras are quite beautiful together," the witch smiled encouragingly to the young couple.

"Really?" Sookie enquired, gushing with the compliment, "What do we look like?"

"Well your aura is very vibrant despite the age to your soul," Tallulah explained. "Warm colours while he is more calm and cool in colours. His soul was young when he started and that still lingers despite his age." Sookie laced her fingers through his and smiled happily up at him before he gave her a soft kiss to her lips.

"But together you shine blindingly white," she expressed admiringly. "I have only ever seen one other burn so brightly."

"Who?" Sookie asked curiously.

"My own mother," she said with a wistful smile. "But my mentor speculated it was the love I felt for her that made it appear so, rather than the true shape of her aura. It was in memory after all."

"That's nice," Sookie smiled politely as she shifted slightly uncomfortably, a movement Eric stilled instantly as his arousal seemed unwanted around company. The L-word didn't sit that well with Sookie at the moment. She and Bill had exchanged those words far too quickly to be true. She was determined not to repeat that same mistake despite the witch's kind words.

"Can you see it too Lafayette?" Tallulah asked.

"Why would I's be able to see that?" he returned in confusion.

"You're a medium," she stated as if describing the colour of his hair.

"What?"

"I'm sorry I thought you knew," the witch shrugged. "You sensed the energy of the space so well."

"Can you see Cecily," Jason asked as he took interest in the conversation for the first time that night as he was but momentarily distracted from his second favourite pastime which was eating.

"Who is Cecily?"

"That would be me," she purred in delight as the apparition glimmered into existence.

"Fuck a bitch!" Lafayette yelled out in wide eyed shock.

"You don't seem the type," Eric and Cecily retorted dryly in unison.

Sookie couldn't help but laugh at their identical reaction. With her solitary amusement unappreciated she offered to channel Cecily's presence for Eric and Tallulah. "Your power is impressive," the witch noted. "Are you using Lafayette's skills to project?"

"No," Sookie said not even thinking of the possibility. "Do you mind if I try Lafayette."

"Go aheads beetch," he said but quickly looked shaken at the growl that erupted from Eric's throat at the unintended insult.

"Eric, hush," she admonished and he reluctantly did with a minor dramatized pout. Sookie reached over for Lafayette's hand, at which Cecily seemed to disappear again to Eric and Tallulah. She refocused and the red haired vampire reappeared to them again. After confirming it worked she tried a second time without having to physically touch Lafayette, employing a mental caress of his mind. With secondary success she was happy to be expanding her skills, most pleased with the diminished amount of energy it required. It was more like maintaining a connection rather than focusing all her might on the projection.

"Too bad she's not a man," Lafayette said jokingly after the introductions. "She could have pretended to be Dionysus."

"How would the shifter like to be Dionysus to my Nyx?" Cecily asked thoughtfully hatching a plan.

"Sam came all the way down to help," Sookie said proudly of her friend and boss. "I'm sure he'd help. Won't the maenad recognise you as a ghost?"

"She worships a God that never comes," Cecily said unimpressed. "She believes what she wants to believe. Besides I'm not a ghost."

"What are you?" Eric demanded.

"Eric!" Sookie reprimanded, slapping the arm that held firm around her waist. "It's really rude to ask that."

"It's ok dear brother," Cecily smiled. "It took me very long to figure it out. So I will share." Eric gave Sookie an 'I told you so' look which only made her scowl at him in return. A sneaky peck on her lips made it soon disappear.

"You two are so cute together," Tallulah said with a smile that quickly dissipated with a glare from Eric. She made a mental note never to put cute and vampire together in a sentence ever again. It only continued the silent back and forth between him and Sookie until Cecily cleared her throat with a severe lack of subtlety.

"I am no ghost," she explained as an expert in the field of her chosen subject. "Ghosts have unfinished business. The fae in me allows me entry into the Summerlands but the vampire in me bars access. I am a spirit that walks alone on this plane now my humanity lost."

"I'm so sorry," Sookie said horrified to hear that Cecily was damned to this eternal half-life.

"Don't be," Cecily shrugged. "I quite enjoy my existence. Godric was dreadfully boring for centuries though. I'm glad for your presence."

"There is life in you," Tallulah observed as she regarded her aura carefully.

"Jason," she said with an acknowledging nod of the man's blood that was altering her physical composition for the first time since her second death.

"Yes baby?" he replied automatically at the mention of his name while pulling her closer into his side.

Cecily giggled a little at his lack of perception. "Nothing."

**A/N: A little announcement: I'll be off on holiday for the next couple of weeks to a place where Wi-Fi will be shoddy at best. I'll see what I can do but it may happen that a week passes without an update or that it happens on a different day. **_**It's Already Gone**_** is the only story that will continue as scheduled seeing that it coincides with the show. For those impatient ones among you I suggest to read/catch up with another one of my stories while I'm gone or make sacrifices to the Wi-Fi gods and pray for good reception. I'll be back at work September 1****st**** so unless I catch Hep-V regular scheduling will commence from that point onwards.**


	12. Chapter 11 - One

"_I am no ghost," she explained as an expert in the field of her chosen subject. "Ghosts have unfinished business. The fae in me allows me entry into the Summerlands but the vampire in me bars access. I am a spirit that walks alone on this plane now my humanity lost."_

"_I'm so sorry," Sookie said horrified to hear that Cecily was damned to this eternal half-life._

"_Don't be," Cecily shrugged. "I quite enjoy my existence. Godric was dreadfully boring for centuries though. I'm glad for your presence."_

"_There is life in you," Tallulah observed as she regarded her aura carefully. _

"_Jason," she said with an acknowledging nod of the man's blood that was altering her physical composition for the first time since her second death._

"_Yes baby?" he replied automatically at the mention of his name while pulling her closer into his side._

_Cecily giggled a little at his lack of perception. "Nothing."_

**Chapter 11 - One**

Sookie's feet dangled daintily over the cool marble counter of the island unit in the middle of what once housed the impressive wardrobe of Queen Sophie Anne. She really didn't like being in the private spaces belonging to the former bitch queen as she continued to fidget while Eric carried on with his search so she persevered for his sake. Well in this case for Pam.

"How many white dresses can a woman own?" Sookie asked before adding thoughtfully, "I hope she wasn't a messy eater."

Eric chuckled quietly at Sookie's pragmatism, it was a quality that Sophie Anne was clearly lacking. In fact the queen had been quite a messy eater but her wardrobe was as dispensable as the donors. His perusal of the racks had yet to yield Pam's former dress. On sight of her wearing it the Queen had demanded it as tribute. His child had complied as expected but Eric had had to listen to her incessant whining over the loss of it for years. He also felt Pam would need some sort of reward for her excellent work with the former King of Mississippi. Eric had no idea if they would still be in need of his help but an ally with such great age was one he could not fail to cultivate.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" Sookie asked with a hint of insecurity. Eric hadn't behaved like his overbearing self after their dinner conversation or his overly amorous counterpart. He almost seemed downtrodden but she couldn't figure out what had made him so. The evening had been pleasant, dinner conversation was light and Cecily had given insight into her unique make up.

"It's nothing," he returned dismissively leaving the silence to linger between the screeching sounds of hangers moving over the metal stands with the brusque force his torturous hands caused.

"Please just tell me if I did something wrong," she requested softly. The poorly hidden insecurity of her earlier question had lost its covert nature as it shone through at the forefront of her worried eyes. Disgusted with the sight of it he was in front of her in an instant kissing her tenderly between her turned out legs. In contrast with the callousness that had attacked the lines of dresses his fingers ran delicately through her hair and over her back.

"You did nothing wrong," he said sternly between the multitude of kisses. "They are just thoughts distracting me."

"Ok," she nodded in acceptance not daring to push for more in this moment. "Is that Pam's dress?" she asked motioning to the garment bag that had appeared beside her on the counter.

"I think so," Eric replied. "I have to check the care label. She leaves very specific instructions to the dry cleaners there."

Sookie couldn't stop the tug at the corners of her mouth over that revelation when reading the unmistakeable death threat to whomever dared ruin Pam's dress in place of where the standardised care label would reside.

"Has she really killed someone over her clothing?" Sookie asked.

"No," Eric chuckled wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his forehead on hers. "She came close at some chaotic sale over a sweater vest with another vampire. It was before the revelation and luckily she held on to the rationale that she couldn't kill someone with so many witnesses."

"Are you sure it wasn't the fact that blood would ruin the item they were fighting over?"

"That actually sounds far more plausible," Eric mused as he continued his kisses over her forehead. "I like this brain of yours."

"I like yours too," Sookie smiled up at him as she caught his lips. She pulled away instantly as she continued to feel the distance that had mysteriously settled between them that evening. He looked at her in confusion.

"Your heart's not in it," she whispered when she couldn't meet his inquisitive eyes where Sookie feared judgement might further push them apart.

"I no longer have a heart," he spoke sarcastically in an attempt to distract her from his true feelings. She gave him a sceptic look. "I'm not going to continue to ask if you won't answer," the telepath without insight sighed.

"Then ask."

"I already did," Sookie said pointedly.

He let out a heavy sigh of his own, a human need he did not indulge in often. "I fear to lose you before I have you."

"I'm not going anywhere," she returned with an encouraging smile, unsure where his insecurity was stemming from. To further prove this she rested her head against his chest in hope that the physical closeness would convince him as much.

"Will you take my blood," he whispered so softly she almost didn't hear him.

"But I'm not hurt," Sookie said confused searching out the cool depths of his eyes.

"I forgot Compton has kept much from you," Eric said with a grimace at the mention of the detested vampire who he had no power over to extract the punishment he clearly deserved. "What did he tell you of our blood?"

"It heals injuries. Those invasive dreams and the accompanying libido," she exhaled noisily with the memory. In hindsight it was now so apparent to her how the management of his schemes and blood clearly tied into his manipulation of her. "He'd be able to sense me, find me if I were in trouble."

"He was very selective with the truth then," Eric replied with little surprise to that fact. "The dreams are only there if the vampire initiates them. Softly scripted so to speak. The rest is true albeit a pared down version of it."

A small tear escaped the corner of her eye which was promptly kissed away as he tried to hush away the memory. In a small moment of relief they both considered her lucky that it had not lasted longer than it did. That the trade-off had given them this moment of relative safety with each other.

"For normal humans tying them by blood allows us to influence them. A version of our glamour, if you will. It is apparent that Bill could never exert that control on you, I have seen him try." Eric paused for the information to settle in her worried eyes. "Even if it were possible this is not why I would wish for you to take my blood. Not for the sensing of your emotions either."

"Bill knew what I was feeling all the time?" she asked horrified with the newfound information.

"I am unsure," Eric replied. "He lacked the ability to control you perhaps it was the same for this."

"I think he could," Sookie groaned with resignation as she recalled the defining moments of her former relationship. "He anticipated to my emotional needs far too well. I thought it was from his many years on this earth. Now I'm not so sure."

"How so?"

"You're ten times his age," she said with a slight tease and sparkle to her eyes. "You have missed the mark more than once on knowing exactly what I want or need."

"Maybe I think giving in to your every desire is not the way you want to be treated every single step of the way," he noted in return displaying exactly what a millennia of knowledge had afforded him in insight. "There's an exciting light inside you, it doesn't need tempering but it doesn't need to be fuelled constantly either. You do very well on your own."

"Thank you," she returned shyly, slightly disconcerted that he saw through her so accurately. Sookie wondered if this is what it was like when her telepathy revealed more of someone than they intended to share with the world. It should have scared her that he saw her at the extremes between her innate vulnerabilities and strengths. Rather it settled her into a comfort that left her unguarded with him that had nothing to do with the reclusion his mind offered her.

"I would enjoy feeling what you feel," he said thoughtfully as the sensitised tips of his fingers ran down her back. "But I would not use your emotions against you. I already lured you into my bed my precious," Eric jested with a sinister voice before he added smugly, "I am already one step ahead of Bill."

She laughed softly at him as she shook her head in reprimand. "So why do you want this?" Sookie asked, as the width of her eyes grew reminiscent of a doe's.

"The connection," he confessed speaking in reminiscence of the ties that had been abruptly severed in evenings passed. "What I feel between us to be tangible. That incorporeal thing that existed from the moment you stepped into my bar to be real."

"It hardly seems fair," Sookie returned. "I never felt anything of a tie like that with Bill. I'd like to feel it just as you would." She didn't expect the look of joy grazing Eric's handsome features at her reaction that accompanied the furrow of her brows.

"It is possible," he stated with little of the emotion that had defined his initial reaction. "If we exchange three times it would be permanent and you would feel me as I do you."

"And I'll be a vampire," she grumbled discontented.

"No," he said decidedly. "You'll never be a vampire." In this instant Eric hid his disappointment well, even if she did detect the slightest hint of it.

"Have you ever done that before?" she asked curiously. "Is that what you and Pam have?" The close relationship had confused her from the moment they met especially since Pam seem to leer at her with the equal appetite of her maker. When she compared it to Bill's cold treatment and abandonment of his progeny Jessica, whose welfare still remained unknown to Sookie, the contrast couldn't be more startling.

"No," Eric replied. "The only human I ever gave my blood to was Pam. That was only to turn her. I have never tied myself to anyone that wasn't through a maker-child tie."

"Is it like the bonds you had with Pam and Godric?"

"I have heard it is similar but different. When complete it is something between equals," he said as he brushed some stray hairs from her forehead. "Is it something you would consider?"

"I would want it," Sookie returned thoughtfully. "But only if it were to become permanent. Is that what you would want too? To be tied to me till I'm old and grey? Till I die." She spoke her last sentence almost inaudibly as insecurity took hold of her once more.

"Yes." There was no hesitance in his answer which unnerved her slightly in the nature of its determined declaration.

"I think we should revisit the permanence of it under more normal circumstances," she offered with some thought, it seemed more permanent than a marriage and everything was still new between them. "You know when a maenad and a hurricane aren't breathing down our necks."

"That is perhaps for the best," he said with a hint of dejection.

"Oh sweetie don't get me wrong," Sookie said with a lilting voice intended to smooth the frown off his face. "I meant we can try the first exchange now and see how it goes."

"You are certain?" he asked with more enthusiasm kissing her gently in gratitude.

She nodded affirmatively. "If someone can track me through the blood I prefer you over Bill," she voiced before curiosity got hold of her once more. "What will happen with his blood in my body? Will it disappear anytime soon?"

"His blood is young," Eric explained with his nose already scenting the strong perfume of her lifeblood that emanated from the vein in the graceful arch of her neck. He considered that eradicating Bill's blood was the only part he would regret about feeding her his blood. The surly vampire would no longer be able to feel the great pleasures he was bringing to his Sookie. However, the thought of being the only blood residing inside her was a far more enticing prospect all round. "When you take mine it will seek it out his and destroy it,"

"I think you should have opened with that," she smiled at him. "I would have agreed without argument or further thought."

"That's how you ended up under his control Sookie," he returned thoughtfully, not wishing to be too reprimanding in his tone but it slipped in regardless. "Pretty words are for pretty people but the supernatural world is not a pretty one. Never let your guard down, even with me."

"You're probably right," Sookie agreed, her misjudgement had cost her a lot. While she could blame it all on Bill and the powers that be, there was an accounting of her own in the events that had passed. "So how do we do this?"

"Allow me," Eric said as he scooped her up and placed her on the former regent's bed. Sookie quickly tried to move herself off of it as soon as she landed on the sumptuous double bed in the all-white decor.

"Not here Eric," she protested as he tried to keep her wriggling body in place.

"Why not it's perfect?" He asked while continuing to hold her down with minimal force.

"Perfect?" Sookie reacted with abject incense. "Doing something so, so… intimate on the bed of the woman who set seduction and deception in course at my expense. That sounds perfect to you?"

"Yes," Eric replied without blinking at her scrutiny. "We are here and she is not."

"This is akin to having revenge sex on someone's grave," she huffed out.

"I prefer to think of it as poetic justice. Like it or not Sookie," he said gently caressing her face with his fingertips. "We are here together because of her. Would you really have come to Fangtasia on your own to seek out information on the murders of those women without Bill's protection?"

Sookie was about to say she would do exactly that before she thought back more considerately. "No," she admitted. "I would have come to listen in from the parking lot at most."

"Her intervention in your life may not have been pleasant but it also brought you to me," Eric said as he considered all the events that had transpired to bring them to this moment. Never in his existence had he considered bonding himself permanently to someone but the mere surfacing of her presence in his bar had given way to events neither one of them had control over. They could have continued to fight it endlessly but acceptance had brought them here. "Had I discovered her unscrupulous behaviour before, I would have done everything in my power to shield you from her. My sword would have been yours regardless whether you were mine at the time."

"I never figured you for a romantic," Sookie teased as she tittered softly at his disbelieving eyes.

"There is nothing romantic about swords dislodging heads," he said in annoyance at her flowery words. "Beauty, yes. Romance, no."

She smiled up at him in amusement. "If you say so," she teased with mirth. "It sounds straight out one of my Gran's romance novels if you ask me. The fair knight who protects the damsel in distress from the evil queen."

"You should not sully your mind with such shite," he said while cupping her face in his calloused hands. "Let's not forget who saved who here Sookie. If we are characters in one of your romance novels than you are the fair maiden who saved the trapped knight. I am your damsel if anything."

"Equals then," Sookie replied contentedly with the realisation of what she had achieved when thinking back to her helpless moment that started this all when the shaky foundations of her relationship with Bill had come tumbling down. That had never been a relations of equals but she recognised what was offered to her now as such.

"Demanding much?" he grinned as he acknowledged her a position he never thought he would grant another. The vampire hierarchy had always been clear and simple like that, you were either above or below another but Sookie was the wild card that broke up that monotony.

"Scared I'm going to demand flowers and chocolates at every turn?" she pestered with a wide bearing grin.

"You can have anything you want for all I care," he returned. "Just don't expect me to be some hero from the pages of your novels. I am who I have been for over a thousand years, that's not going to change because you wish me to be someone else."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Sookie said as she moved her soft lips to his. "I like you exactly as you are, flaws and all." The sudden impact of an extremely loud thunderous noise had her yelping closer into his embrace much to his amusement.

"Perhaps you are a bit of a damsel in distress," Eric chuckled as he held her tightly in comfort. "Maybe I should dust off my old armour for you, if you like?" He winked lasciviously and her deep blush answered when she didn't. "So shall we continue?"

Sookie pondered for a moment if she was still comfortable continuing where they were. "I don't know Eric," she said heaving a sigh. "I really don't like the idea of being in Sophie Anne's bed where she did God knows what."

"I think it was mostly for decoration," Eric assured her. "She had a whole floor dedicated to her sexual exploits and her true day chambers lie beyond the closet. I cannot scent any trace of sex on the mattress if that is what worries you."

"You can smell that?"

"Well not if it's longer than a year ago," he shrugged. "As far as I can tell this bed has never been used."

"Ok then," Sookie replied before slipping a small smile. His firm lips rested against the softness of her own set as they attempted to kiss away the nerves the moment brought with it as the night sky erupted in billowy storm clouds around them the threatening noise of the hurricane now lost to them.

"We will be one," Eric said reverently as he sank his fangs in to the palm of his hand. He allowed the blood treacle down slightly as he offered the two points of impact towards her lips. She silently gave her permission through the sure intent of her eyes and held his large hand with her own two. She gave a tentative lick to palate the taste of him on her soft tongue. Tantalised by the flavour of him she took the gushing wounds to her mouth and sucked his ancient life force down into her own.

From all that Eric knew of blood bonding it was supposed to be highly arousing for the vampire as the blood was shared. The sight of Sookie under any circumstances was just that. In this moment, however, it was her subtle beauty that struck and mesmerised him. It had nothing to do with the golden hue of her hair, the softness of her eyes or the grace of her curves. It was what was uniquely her, where aesthetics no longer swayed the desires of the man inside him. Or vampire in this instance.

She didn't offer him salvation or deliverance. Welcoming him whole and without prejudice with unexperienced warmth. Sookie made him more than he was, and for her he wanted to be more than he already was. It was a true first in a thousand years of continued existence.

He couldn't help but take her lips upon his own again after his wounds had sealed upon themselves tasting the remnants of himself mingled with her. Her face spread wide as he gazed down upon her adoring face. He could feel the faint flutter of emotion, anticipation and contentment. It was the sight of her giant smile in that moment that he would transcribe for eternity in memory of this moment.

"Your turn," Sookie whispered as she offered herself by moving her neck to the side.

"No," he responded equally soft while caressing her with his grasp to tilt her head back. "I want you to gaze upon me as I did you."

She offered her left hand to his where his nose traced the scent that lingered strongly upon her wrist. She caressed his hair softly with her other hand as he gently numbed her wrist with the soothing qualities of his saliva. In truth the wrist was his least favourite place to feed from but he reminded himself this had nothing to do with nourishment. He would be patient with the tender area where the blood did not flow as richly as other arteries. Eric intended to suckle softly so she would experience no pain because from now on, or perhaps even before, that would harm him more than her.

He sought out her eyes that he was sure were capable of hypnotising him if he allowed it. The moment his fangs slipped into her supple skin the thunderous boom from the sky rang through their ears. In shock of the simultaneous assault of all her senses Sookie yanked the lingering gentle hand forcefully in his hair pulling them closer together. He merely purred in delight as the first drops of her blood ignited the bond that would form between them.

His gentle nourishing lulled her into a bliss neither had ever experienced. Her wandering hand sought to explore the arches and planes of his upper body as Eric felt the strings of their connection grab hold of him inside, growing out towards her. He wished desperately for her to feel the igniting forces growing between them as she had expressed earlier. For the first time in a thousand years he had found something that he wished to share.

Sookie gasped as if struck by lightning when an electrical force moved like millions of small tremors through her body and engulfed their bodies in a brilliant white light. Instantly, she too felt the strands that were reaching out to him. The moment the two branches reached each other and joined the roof trusses above them roared, the wood creaking to its restraints with the forces of the wind, before they were mercilessly torn from their ancient joints. It took them longer than expected to realise they were engulfed in pelting rain and were being soaked wet as the wind assaulted them from all angles.

With delayed realisation Eric flew Sookie into the protected day chambers before she urged him to see to the safety of the others. He found her brother and Lafayette quickly enough bringing them to shelter by Sookie's side. She screamed in anguish as her telepathy caught the mind of the witch being sucked out into the blowing winds of the storm.

Nature's strong winds stood to be quite a challenge even to the ancient vampire but he managed to find Tallulah swiftly and bring her to the newly assembled sanctuary. She remained somewhat unsteady on her feet as Lafayette saw to her wellbeing in the confines of the shelter.

"Any more?" Eric asked with haggard breath as his lungs had ingested a tremendous amount of water he would soon need to purge. Sookie replied all the other human minds were already safely tucked in the other day chambers belonging to the former queen's children. He put the room in lockdown and Sookie shivered coldly in his arms.

"You remembered Pam's dress," Sookie said as she spotted the garment bag hanging on the wall.

"If she asks, it was the first thing I rescued." Despite the wet cold that had her shaking she couldn't help but smile at his dedication to Pam. He ran his hands up and down her body in a desperate attempt to warm her with friction as she tried to laugh at his joke which was more akin to teeth clattering.

"Let's dry you off," he said as her shivers failed to stop. Tallulah was already showering in one of the two bathrooms so he knew there was still a supply of warm water available for her. He drew a bath for them both and listened in on the TV report which Jason and Lafayette were watching in the small living room that charted the progression of the hurricane.

Sookie slipped in as soon as the bath water was high enough to reach most of her body and when Eric joined her there was little of her left uncovered by the soothingly warm water. She relaxed into his body and encompassing arms with a contented sigh that reverberated between them as they shared the same feeling of joy simultaneously for the first time.

"Is it really safe inside here?" she asked tentatively as he washed her hair. Eric assured her that he had personally recommended the contractors of the panic rooms and that Sophie Anne would have spared no money on her own security, at least her greed and spending behaviour had brought some good. Even if the building were to collapse they were perfectly safe, even from the possibility of flooding waters.

Exhaustion soon overtook Sookie and she allowed her eyes to drop slightly with the knowledge all was benign. Eric wrapped her in a towel as soon as the water temperature seemed to drop and brought her to one of the bedrooms where he snuggled with her under the covers as she softly snored.

"Don't worry brother," Cecily said as she appeared in a shroud of light.

"Is Sookie still projecting you?" he asked in confusion at their first seemingly private conversation with the sister he had only ever known as to be truly dead. "Even in her sleep?"

"No," Cecily replied. "Something about their blood. I think Stackhouse is not their real name. They are special, the lineage is rare."

"She is very special to me indeed," Eric said as he delicately traced the contours of her face. In her slumbering state she automatically moved into his touch.

"Sookie will be with you long," Cecily stated in assurance.

"Not long enough," he sighed. With understanding exactly how Cecily had to come to be trapped in her semi-corporal being, Eric knew instantly that he would never wish such a continued existence on Sookie. It was with a heavy heart that he had resigned to the fact that Sookie would live out her life as a human, that vampire blood would only sustain het to keep her heart beating, never to bring her by his side in death. She would go to her heaven or Summerlands, he would not keep her here selfishly.

"She is of fae and carries the spark."

"Even a few hundred years seems paltry," he yearned letting the disappointment of the early night ebb out.

"Keep her safe till she matures," Cecily advised. "Your blood has already accelerated it."

"I guess any moment of time is precious," he said in consolation to himself.

"Have you ever met an elder fae?"

"A friend of Godric's once, he was over three centuries at the time," Eric returned in vague remembrance of the peculiar being.

"Pff," Cecily huffed out as her hair sprung into the air with her exhaled breath. "A baby fae. The fae are eternal beings, as long as they carry the spark. If Sookie chooses it, she can outlive you all."

"Eternal as in immortal?" he asked with hope in his eyes.

"No eternal as in eternal. Her spark is congruent to the balance of magic on this plane."

"Did you carry a spark?" Eric asked as he took in the new information. "That is why you are stuck?"

"No," she said with a bit of disappointment. "I was like Jason. The fae in me keeps me corporal on this plane. The human in me is long gone."

"I could turn Jason and stake him for you," Eric offered with a malevolent grin. "You would not walk alone anymore."

Cecily giggled with delight, "I don't think Sookie will let _you_ live for that. Besides I don't think it necessary. Their blood it is special. Pure."

"His blood is sustaining life in you," he said recalling the witch's observation earlier that night.

"Yes," she smiled. "My light, it seems to be returning."

"You will look over them during the day?" Eric asked as the sun started to pull on his conscious state.

"Not necessary," she said kindly. "But you honour me with your request dear brother. They will be safe."

* * *

"Well that was frustratingly easy," Pam drawled through the cavernous halls of the palace as she tossed another severed head over her shoulder.

"I told you, did I not mittens?" Russell said with amusement as he took in the atrocious new decorating scheme. "Enjoy the blood thirst in your youth. Most refuse to even engage you in battle when you're over 1500."

"I'll be off to hang with a younger crowd then," she teased as her ruined pumps kicked aside another disintegrating body.

"What will I do without your effervescent company Ms Swynford de Beaufort," he declared with a cackle while picking at a poorly gilt column. "Ugh, the taste of the nouveau riche. There has never been a gold pillar that ever exuded taste. Yet they all try. My poor Talbot would be rolling over in his grave if he had one at the sight of it."

"Speaking of which," Pam said carefully at the mention of the regent's former paramour. "The antique from the Civil War era in the basement is awfully loose lipped about him."

"I knew I liked you," he smirked. "I'll see to him before dawn."

"As you wish," Pam replied as they entered the throne room. Russell's eyes grew wide at the sight of it and let out a snarl.

"It looks like Laura Ashley threw up in here," Pam seethed with distaste at the floral themed room. Without asking she tossed the ridiculously frilly throne out of the window. "I think my grandsire had the right idea with a bonfire."

"I'm inclined to agree," Russell said as he tossed out a cupboard full of china. It was all modern reproductions without any true sign of quality or taste. It's only redeeming quality was that it screamed expensive.

Their personal bonfire was most pleasing to Russell, nowhere near as impressive as the one that had initiated the new regime in New Orleans but it burned brightly despite the downpour thanks to the copious amount of gasoline that Pam gleefully sprayed about. It didn't take long for her to direct every single distasteful item towards it with the vampire minions that were now at her personal beck and call. Russell had just settled back into his reinstated throne, which luckily was still on the property as were most of his other furnishings, when Nan Flanagan arrived.

"Ms Flanagan," Russell greeted as he softly petted the leather coverings on the arms of the chair not bothering to look up at the blonde vampiress whose face always seemed caught in exasperation. "I would have expected you at least an hour ago. Meet Pamela my new decorator."

"The weather has not been granting any favours," the spokeswoman replied with annoyance. "Have you informed The Authority of your return?"

"Fuck The Authority," he said enunciating each word with leisure. "I am The Authority."

"There were conditions to your retirement," Nan replied coolly. "You'd do well to abide by them."

"You and your precious authority would do well to read the fine print," Russell replied with an agonising smirk as he tossed her a copy of their contract where his winning argument had been thoughtfully highlighted in pink by Pam. "Dissolving my state gives me rights of first offer. I merely took you up on the offer."

Nan Flanagan seemed to pale more than possible as she recalled the safety net she herself had placed into the contract. It was meant to ward off hostile takeovers from other regents while the new Queen of Mississippi established her reign. A three thousand year old vampire ready to reassert his throne when necessary thwarted the circling sharks quite effectively. That was until the largest shark of them all returned to the table.

"I will inform The Authority of your return my liege," Nan replied with a small bow before scurrying off in panic.

"You're right," Pam said in her signature intonation that expressed boredom like no other. "It's no fun if even Nan Flanagan is pissing in her pants at the sight of you."

"I've had enough of this place," Russell said tapping his fingers away. "I want to experience this fangs out lifestyle. Let's go find us some treats."

Pam's eyes lit up with glee at the prospect of a fresh feed, her little hotel bacchanal had been a few nights ago after all. "I know just the place."

…

…

…

**A/N: The WiFi is being testy again so I might need to find something to offer in sacrifice to the gods again. Suggestions welcome….**

**I am still officially on holidays so updates will come when they come. I am sticking to the order in ****which I usually release them so **_**From Time Immemorial**_** will be the next to receive an update. My version of season 7, **_**It's Already Gone**_**, will be updated on Sunday as usual.**


	13. Chapter 12 - A Kind Soul

"_The fae are eternal beings, as long as they carry the spark. If Sookie chooses it, she can outlive you all."_

"_Eternal as in immortal?" he asked with hope in his eyes._

"_No eternal as in eternal. Her spark is congruent to the balance of magic on this plane."_

"_Did you carry a spark?" Eric asked as he took in the new information. "That is why you are stuck?"_

"_No," she said with a bit of disappointment. "I was like Jason. The fae in me keeps me corporal on this plane. The human in me is long gone."_

"_I could turn Jason and stake him for you," Eric offered with a malevolent grin. "You would not walk alone anymore."_

_Cecily giggled with delight, "I don't think Sookie will let you live for that. Besides I don't think it necessary. Their blood it is special. Pure."_

_"His blood is sustaining life in you," he said recalling the witch's observation earlier that night._

"_Yes," she smiled. "My light, it seems to be returning."_

"_You will look over them during the day?" Eric asked as the sun started to pull on his conscious state._

"_Not necessary," she said kindly. "But you honour me with your request dear brother. They will be safe."_

**Chapter 12 – A Kind Soul**

"What has you so happy?" Sookie asked as she felt Eric's consciousness buzz to life with a burst of joy through their fledgling bond. They hadn't found any time after the forging of it to speak much of their newly formed connection as sleep had quickly taken Sookie's shocked form after the sudden assault of the weather. Eric had noted it was an unusual shaping of their life giving essences but he had assumed the unknown component was due to his own inexperience with it. He had simply woken up vampire attached to Godric. With Pam it had been similar, after the obligatory three nights in the ground their bond was just there.

With Sookie he had stood witness at the birth of it. He had conceded she was indeed right. It was unfair that she only got to experience anything of it until the bond was permanently formed. Eric found, in hindsight, that he wanted to have been able to share that experience with her. He pondered that it was perhaps not so different from the human condition of conceiving a child. While two were necessary for the mating only one would deliver it as the other stood merely witness to the labour. If at all.

"You," he smiled in answer to her questioning of his uplifted mood. The overcast of the storm was interfering with his day rest again allowing them this private time during the day. Without the aid of Sookie's blood he would be decidedly weakened by being this alert. While human blood could sustain a lot he wondered how much the fairy essence inside her boosted his strength during these daylight hours, he had never felt so energetic before.

"What makes you so happy about me?" she probed snuggling closer into his embrace.

"You're not going anywhere," he simply replied with the contentment of knowing she would be with him for as long as they both weathered the storms that the ages threw at them.

"Well this hurricane is not allowing for much movement, no," Sookie teased as she squirmed in the tighter hold around her waist. "I'll be bolting out of your evil grasp as soon as it's gone."

"Do you enjoy riling up vampires," Eric smirked before catching her lips with his so she couldn't contest otherwise. "You have quite the talent for it."

"I can feel you," she said smiling up at him when an inhalation of oxygen finally allowed her brain to produce cohesive sentences again. "I don't know if it's the same as for you. I see your happiness but I feel it with more intensity."

"You have access to the bond?" he questioned with a mixture of confusion and delight.

"I think so," she said probing it and watched him shudder in ecstasy with the feather light caresses of her touch that only invigorated his stance that she was an unsurpassed expert in vampire riling. "I felt it growing from inside me meeting you. When it collided the roof was torn off."

"Yes," he agreed as his eyes filled with wonder as he caressed the soft cheeks that sat below her equally sparkling eyes. "I desperately wanted you to feel it come to life, to share that with you."

"I guess my fairyness changes the mechanics of it," Sookie said thoughtfully. "I'll ask Cecily when she appears again."

"I can ask her as well," Eric voiced smugly. "I can see her now."

"Since when?" Sookie asked suspiciously before the taunting of her voice continued with slid eyelids. "You're not feeding your blood to all the girls round here, are ya?"

He chuckled softly at her jealousy that was poorly veiled in her teasing tone. "Only you, my love," Eric expressed with a tender whisper. It puzzled him slightly that her spirits plummeted with that sentence in rapid speed as a sombre mood replaced the levity that was present before in the bond. "You do not believe me?"

"No, it's not that," she said dismissively and their bond revealed she was being truthful with her statement yet her mood remained stuck in the negative periphery. "It's nothing."

"Tell me," he demanded, only with his thousand year old control did he contain the growl that was desperate to be let out alongside it. "I can feel it is not _nothing."_

"I don't want to talk about this with you," she declared with anger coursing through her face, refusing him any further access she turned her head away from him. With his preternatural speed Eric simply moved himself quicker than the motion of her neck to rest beside her on the other side. Startled that her private moment was stolen in his presence a hot tear of frustration fell from her eyes.

"Please, tell me," he requested in a softer tenor as he wiped away the offending tear.

"You said you wouldn't use knowing my emotions against me," she replied equally soft, the annoyance and accusation were, however, not absent from her tone.

"I think we will both need time to adjust to this bond between us," he sighed while fingering the ends of her hair. "My only experience with it has been as a maker or as a child. Not on equal footing like this."

"Okay," she whispered out.

"Bound or not. I can see the pain on your face as clearly as I feel it in the bond," Eric said as he traced the minute worry line on her forehead. "What did I say to upset you so?"

"I told you it's nothing," she started but the feel of his dejection prompted her to tell him the truth. She let out a small breath, "It's just a word. Love. Bill was quick to use that word and so was I."

"You believe me untruthful of the affection? Incapable even?" Eric questioned. Granted he was a complete novice in the area but he never examined the possibility it wasn't possible. Whatever existed between him and Sookie had seemed unfathomable before but as soon as her presence had come into his existence all preconceived notions seemed open to scrutiny. "Or is it the fact we are both vampires?"

"No," she voiced apologetically. Nowhere in her mind did the two equate simply on their altered nocturnal state. It was what they had evoked in her emotional quarry. "I don't know if I understand the truth of it anymore. I thought love was what was growing between Bill and I. It was all lies."

"Just because he manipulated you, it doesn't negate what you felt," Eric offered thoughtfully though he hated to admit the truth of his own words. However, there was no sense in denying it, he could feel all of her and it accurately revealed the feelings she carried for the Civil War veteran. The only solace he found is that what she held for him was stronger, more powerful and unburdened by the undesirable spectrum of emotions. Unwilling to allow the pain to remain on her face his fingers tenderly smoothed the frown in her brow.

"You think I was really in love with him?"

"I think you were well on your way to loving a concocted version of him," Eric observed. "You wouldn't be the first woman in the history of man to experience that. His betrayal wouldn't hurt you so much if it wasn't the case."

"Then why was I so eager to give it up?" Sookie sighed, the stifling feel of guilt that belonged to her actions of adultery still lingered around the emotional Gordian knot that was connected to the memory of Bill. "It doesn't make sense."

"Well I am irresistible," he smirked with dramatic arrogance, which earned him a playful slap to the shoulder and a small giggle that enforced the feel of her brightening mood. "Perhaps you knew instinctively that somehow he couldn't be trusted."

"Maybe," Sookie conceded to a truth she was perhaps not fully willing to admit to yet. "You think Bill really believed he was in love with me then?"

"No," Eric spoke decidedly. "He seeks redemption and thinks you will offer it to him. His actions don't speak of affection but of desperation. He wanted to control the image of you as his own. I gave Godric my loyalty unquestioningly for over a thousand years. The moment he demanded it from me he lost it."

"I wanted to believe what he offered me," she admitted feeling the sharp wound coiling in her again but instead of feeling pain the warmth of their bond soothed it away. Sookie couldn't help but smile up at him with the comfort offered. "I'm glad for this bond. I never realised the blessing for not hearing another's thoughts would come at the cost of my scrutiny. Without the use of my telepathy I guess I'm just a little handicapped in the realm of vampires."

"Maybe I should have opened with that," he grinned.

"The loss of Bill's blood will remain the unique selling point of your pitch," she beamed back at him. "But that's a close second."

"How about my superior love making skills?"

"I don't need a bond for that," Sookie returned as she tauntingly curved her finger in flection beckoning him to her. "I think my eyes will suffice for that."

Eric growled a little at her invitation. "Even if I were blind I'd be drawn to you," he confessed before kissing the lids of her eyes one by one.

"Is that all I am to you?" she teased with a small pout. "A lovely scent. A tasty snack?"

"I admit you smell better than anything I scented on this earth," he replied as he nudged her nose in an Eskimo's caress. His finger trailed down the throbbing artery of her neck humming along to her murmurs. "Your blood is the most delectable thing that has ever touched my palette. Your body drives me mad with lust." He set to support that claim by grinding his growing erection into her. A small gasp escaped her as she glowed a little brightly at the feel of it as it simultaneously taunted her internally through the bond.

"Even without all that," he expressed ceremoniously. "I'd still dedicate my time in pursuit of you. For this perceptive mind beyond your years. Honed by the ever fleeting thoughts of others and still you are so indiscriminate with your heart and affection." Eric proceeded to kiss the skin over her heart softly as it replied with thunderous beats that were deafening to his heightened senses. No musical composition created by man could rival the lyrical quality he found there.

"That is still not why," he continues as his gaze locked onto hers again, the intensity of it near frightening with the gravity of his words.

"Why then?" she asked barely containing the stammer of her breath as her eyes sat wide with curiosity.

"I see you," he said, the intensity of his stare nearly paralysing her with the statement. "As you see me."

The bond between them ignited with sparks of lust and affection overtaking them both. Drawing their bodies together without being able to recognise where one started and the end of the other resided.

"You'd be a gazillionaire if you wrote those words down," she sighed in contentment as his fingers started to gently caress through her folds.

"I'd be one without them too," he grinned, resurfacing his carefree and playful side as the severity of his words had eliminated the downtrodden mood at the simple mention of the word 'love' had unearthed between them.

"Cause you have me?" she requested as he released her lips from his again while his urgent kisses travelled south.

"No," he said with an arrogant smirk. "I'm filthy rich."

She tittered with equal admonishing and delight as she continued to straddle his body and sank herself down on the erection that was weeping out for her attention. "There you are," she said lingering her eyes on his mischievous ones as her fingers traced the extremities of his face. They both remained unmoving as they allowed this interlude for their bodies to greet each other again in such close confines. "I all but worried I'd exchanged you for a romantic model."

"Never," he gritted out as he thrust into her. His encompassing hands guiding them both in a sweet rhythm. She moaned in delights as she contorted her back into a graceful arch, tight as a bow while resting her hands upon his chest pulling him in deeper with the suction of her internal muscles. They both groaned at the feel as he sank into her at what seemed an impossible depth. Her breasts jutted out between her arms bouncing with each forceful thrust he send through small form, he smiled like a small child as his thrusts rippled through her body jostling her breasts to his face. Eric decided these were truly breasts the rest of the world had tits as far as he was now concerned because these beckoned him like no other, the pert nipples begging for his touch.

"You're unapologetically yourself," she said as she ground herself down on him circling her hips over his thumping cock. He swatted her behind softly in approval of her words and movements before continuing to knead the soft flesh that aided her ride of him.

"You care for others at the cost of your own," Sookie panted out as the endorphins flooded her body momentarily. "Even though you'll never admit it out loud." He laughed with the accuracy of her words as her internal muscles fluttered around the impressive plunges of his cock. Her depleting energies soon found her resting on her back again as he lazily thrust into her slowly working her up again as he purposefully held back to hear the words of praise she held for him.

"You hear me as I speak," she whimpered out as the excitement grew exponentially between them again as the pace of his pounding increased while his tongue laved at the breasts he had claimed as his own. "Even when I mumble nonsensically." Her hands flew through his hair as her legs encircled his waist driving him into previously unfound depths. "You don't treat me as a child despite your age."

"You allowed me to come to you," she cried out as he dragged his tongue over her sensitised nipples. Her hands moved frantically over his gloriously naked form trying in desperation to encompass every piece of him as promise of another impending release was making her forget exactly what she was trying to say. His hand moved atop her clit rubbing at it senselessly when he felt her tightening around his cock the movement stalled and his demanding gaze awaited the words that were delayed on her tongue. "You thought me special at first sight," she panted out swallowing another cry as his lips moved over hers. "Held me up when I could no longer find the strength."

Soon she became incapable of forming the words she wanted to speak to him as their combined lust took over. Eric had heard enough for now and more importantly had felt it all alongside the deliciously tight heat of her that surrounded him. They were oscillating between the spurting out in ecstasy and never wanting it to end, intensifying their hunger to unchartered heights. His thrusts were becoming uncoordinated driven by the incessant need for their joint release that the bond dictated above all others.

The slight fluttering of her internal walls was the ignition of their collective fusillade. She cried out in frenzy as he unleashed a string of ill connected curse words from his native tongue.

"Is that why you care for me so?" he asked after her spoken words as they lay in a tangled mess.

"No," she laughed with a dopey smile. "It's the fact you're hung like a horse and you still fit."

vVvVvVv

"Good of you to join us," Cecily drawled out at the sight of the dishevelled lovers.

"Lord above," Sookie screamed out as she scrambled to cover their naked forms with the surrounding sheets.

"Below is more like it," Cecily cackled gesturing at her body resting upon Eric's who much to Sookie's annoyance seemed completely unperturbed by the nudity on display.

"Make sure Pam never gets to meet her," Eric noted seriously. "I don't think we'll survive their joint scrutiny." Sookie nodded, understanding fully well what the combined impact of those two women would cause on their sanity.

"What can we do for you Cecily?" Sookie questioned with a hint of irritation now modestly covered by a white sheet and sitting up with Eric by the headboard.

"The maenad is approaching," she informed them both. "I have spoken to Godric. You need to speak to the shifter."

"Sam," Sookie corrected with a small frown. "I'll find him as soon as the storm lays down."

"You were right," Cecily replied. "The witch has confirmed that this storm reeks of ancient magic. The maenad will arrive in the eye."

"I will take her to the shifter at full dark," Eric said knowing it was no far off at which Sookie nodded in compliance.

"Why are you helping Godric with this?" Sookie inquired. "From what I observed you seem to waylay him constantly."

"Why are you?" she huffed back.

"Sookie thinks she can reach him," Eric explained sceptically. The situation with his maker was still a difficult one for him to grasp, his need to seek safety from the possible fallout was being overridden by Sookie's insistence to save Godric from himself. Eric could, however, not see many opportunities to enforce this change, all that he had done to convince his maker otherwise only seemed to make Godric stauncher in his views.

"Then we are here for the same."

"Does he really hear things?" Sookie queried wondering how much insight Cecily truly had into Godric's inner mind.

"I am not a part of him anymore." She gave a tiny shrug as she sat down cross legged on the end of the oversized bed. "He is at war with himself."

"The Fellowship fuelled the flames," Sookie noted well aware of the religious grasp on Godric's mind. She had seen it take hold in humans often enough and it was no different when it happened to a vampire. Unlike Eric she had also seen it dissipate or transform into a different kind of faith. That is where she drew her optimism from but at the same time she understood Godric perhaps better than his two children that sat with her on the bed. He was an outsider and it was a position she knew from birth and it took a fraudulent relationship to bring her to someone that saw her for what she was and it was far more than she had thought possible. If Godric could only experience a sliver of that, Sookie was convinced he would find a path of sane thought again.

"He doesn't understand the world around him anymore," Eric supplied remembering the change in their former bond. "Shortly after the great reveal he became lost."

"Yes," Cecily hissed. "He forgets what he is and then…" She paused momentarily. "Then he remembers exactly what he is."

"You try to remind him what he is," Sookie said considerately of Cecily's actions. "The good in him."

"It's all I know him as," she said with a hint of melancholy that Sookie felt coming from Eric at the same time through their shared connection. "This is not him."

"He seems such a kind soul," Sookie said with confusion as she found Eric's fingers to interlace with her own, squeezing gently to distract the sadness that threatened to erupt. "But then I see the mindless drones that follow his words of self-hatred and it doesn't add up anymore."

"The Fellowship gave him the tools," Cecily remarked. "The words are his own, as he understands them. Not as they are. The maenad and he are not so different."

"She worships a god that never comes," Sookie repeated the words Cecily has spoken the evening prior. It reminded her of the other manipulators that had come into play. "Steve and Sarah Newlin poisoned the minds of the children of Bon Temps that were in their care."

"I never bought their co-existence spiel," Eric grumbled at the blatant indoctrination. "Such hatred that stems from ideology does not simply disintegrate in a truce. Not even with a maker like mine."

"We have seen the choreography of this dance many times over, brother," Cecily stated wisely. "Man does not always observe their past mistakes."

"What burdens his conscious so heavily?" Sookie asked.

"There is much darkness in him," Eric said in memory of a sensation he had not felt from his maker in centuries. "He did not reveal it to me until I was over a century old. Only when I witnessed it all did he allow me to be on my own."

"He exerts great control," Cecily added. "That is his true gift."

"Or his curse," Sookie replied knowing the value of her own. "Has he been like this before?"

"He did not take my death well," Cecily supplied.

"Which one?" Eric questioned.

"Both," she answered. "The source was the same."

"His maker killed you as vampire?" Eric asked surprised by the revelation.

"In a sense," Cecily remarked touching at the point of impact to the left of her sternum. "It was by his command." The delicate fingers of her hand travelled at the exposed skin as she remembered the stake that ended her life and birthed her into an unknown existence that was her constitution now.

"As was your turning," Sookie alleged. "You were a lesson."

"Correct," Cecily said. "A vampire at that age should not have been able to turn a part fae. I continued to exist because of his great restraint."

"How long were you vampire?"

"A few decades," she replied. "He couldn't turn a full fairy."

"You were the price for that," Eric stated rather than asked knowing full well how harsh the punishments were that Godric's maker dished out. She gave a minute nod as she trailed her fingers through the ends of her hair.

"Is his maker still alive?"

"No," Cecily responded to Sookie's question. "He died the same night as I."

"You killed him?" Eric asked impressed, knowing Godric's maker to be of an incredibly strong line but knew intrinsically that he would have done the same if he were put in her position.

"No. I cannot kill or birth anything in this form," she sighed indicating she had tried unsuccessfully. "The Roman selected the wrong fairy to experiment with. His family came knocking on our doors in an instant."

"He lost his maker and child in one night," Eric said knowing the emptiness of that far too well. It was only his newfound bond with Sookie that salved the wounds of his severed ones. The memory of one haunting him for the ages explained the compounding guilt his maker carried for so long.

"Yes. The darkness ran rampant after that," Cecily acknowledged with a pout.

"What does that mean?" Sookie queried even though she was slightly afraid to hear the answer.

"The Roman Empire soon was no more."

"Godric was responsible for the demise of the Roman Empire?" Sookie questioned disbelievingly.

"No," Cecily smiled. "They did that quite adequately themselves. Pansies. He merely speeded it up by taking down contingents of them on the battle field."

"That really doesn't sound that damning," Sookie said unimpressed. "I bet Eric was just as active as a human."

"True," the Viking in him smirked unapologetically. The day that was supposed as their last in Fangtasia had left little room for conversation but when it had Sookie had wanted to know of his human days. Without censor he had held her captivated with tales of his human days. "I think the darkness pertains more to the bloodlust that followed. At that point there is no discrimination between innocent and damned. I never partook in that as human or vampire."

"Indeed brother," Cecily smiled. "You remember your lessons well. It has always been our _fader's_ greatest point of pride in you."

"Death always belongs to the deserving," Eric recited the words Godric had instilled in him from the moment he was reborn.

"They were my first words as vampire," Cecily informed as she tossed her hair behind her in a dramatic sweep. "I was no innocent as a human." She smiled with a hint of malice at Sookie's confused expression.

"Fairies are known meddlers," Eric supplied to ease Sookie's continued worried glance. "Sound familiar?"

She emitted a small harrumph lacking the evidence to back up her denial of her own meddling ways. Had Cecily not been present she wouldn't consider it poor form to remind him that her meddling ways had saved his lily white ass.

"The fire fae ran rampant in me for long it's how my maker and I could understand each other. We have tempered in our old age. Never aggravate a fire Fae," Cecily offered in explanation. "The element of Sky is Zen-like in comparison."

"When did Godric move out of the darkness?" Sookie asked.

"When he stopped thinking my presence was a sign of his insanity." Cecily played her fingers along each other fidgeting at the memories. "I had to beckon him away from the sun several times."

Eric hissed with the revelation of his maker's attempts at suicide, for some reason that caused him to feel more pain and regret than the thought of his imminent demise not so long ago.

"When he turned you my dear brother his focus returned," Cecily offered him in sympathy. "Now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. He thinks he found light in the darkness. I fear it is the other way round, it is an illusion he continues to believe."

"Is that why you revealed yourself as more than an apparition?" Eric tested.

"Clever my little brother," she said nodding. "Yes, I refused to be considered as fantastical as the voices that tell him the right thing to do is the wrong thing. Of all the things imaginary I am the one that is real."

"The sun has set," Eric said suddenly alert.

"The eye of the storm is approaching we must move quickly," Cecily responded with equal awareness.

The couple quickly changed into their still slightly damp clothes as Cecily disappeared to find Godric. Eric shielded Sookie as best he could as he flew her to the stables that housed the two natured during the storm. Eric had to bear his fangs repeatedly with accompanying warning sounds at the riled up weres in the stable till they found Sam as Dean the dog in a lonely corner.

Sookie quickly averted her eyes as soon as Sam shifted back into his human form. He instantly agreed to the plan provided he had an image of a bull to imprint on. Eric's smartphone conjured up the appropriate image as Cecily and Godric joined them. Cecily sat astride on Sam in his ancient bull form as Godric led them out of the stable. The winds had eased down as the eye of the storm had started to inch out over the city settling its approach. The pleats of Cecily's lithe white Grecian goddess dress bellowed out behind her despite the absolute absence of the winds. The ethereal being seemed to carry those on her own.

"She's at the gate," Sookie announced sensing the unusual brain signature of Maryann who she now understood to be the maenad. She also recognised some of the residents of Bon Temps in her envoy which had her expressing her worry for them. Sookie focused on Tara knowing her mind intricately well and she shuddered at the feel of the maenad's hold on her friend. "Her control of the mind," Sookie explained with a tear escaping her eye as Eric asked what was wrong. "It's intricate and all-encompassing not like glamour at all. It's like she's not even there anymore."

"Yes," Godric acknowledged. "That is how I experienced it too. It was disorienting."

"This thwarts our plan," Eric growled out in exasperation of his maker's continued faith in an unproven being as protection. The thousand year old vampire only ever dealt with fact that is what had kept him alive for so long. "You did not tell me this Godric. If she takes control of your mind again the outcome is too uncertain."

"This is God's plan for me my Son," Godric spoke calmly. "We will succeed."

His two children and the telepath looked at him warily and unbelieving of his continued blind faith. Godric had faced her once and come back defeated. His hubris was completely perplexing to the ones who stood to aid him in the plan to end this seemingly undefeatable mythical being.

"For _they have sown_ the _wind_, and _they shall reap_ the _whirlwind_: it _hath no stalk_: the _bud shall yield no meal_: _if so_ be it _yield_, the _strangers shall_ swallow it up," Godric spoke devoutly.

"My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations," Sookie returned to which Godric's eyes lighted up appreciatively. Her religious upbringing had been one of extreme tolerance and loose interpretations of scripture but it did not mean that Sookie remained unknown of the studies that defined her Christian faith. She recognised the words of the book of Hosea which described the worship of a false idol that brought nothing but emptiness. Sookie simply wondered if Godric took the time to appreciate the lessons of that book to his own. Now was, however, not the time to question him on that.

"_You _understand little light," he said proudly.

"Yes," Sookie lied, she understood exactly what that book was teaching and it had nothing to do with blind faith as Godric interpreted it, but it inspired her to appeal to his. "I am here by God's hand. Allow me to shield your mind as I do mine. The maenad could only brush up against them when I met her as Maryann."

"You are indeed a gift of God," Godric said reverently as he kneeled in front of her. "This will prove to my children that what I speak is truth."

Sookie rested her hands on top of Godric's head and attempted to construct the same shields of her own mind around his. Cecily spoke to her for the first time telepathically to just think of warmth as she activated her light. She did so after recovering from the small and sudden invasion of her mind and Godric was bathed in a warm and bright light.

"In this I see God," Godric said with wonder as he watched the glow disperse into his skin. "Thank you my light."

She simply nodded in acceptance as Godric took off towards the front gates with his bull and child to meet the maenad once again. Eric flew Sookie to the roofline where they entered the former queen's safe room. Lafayette sat waiting for them with Tallulah who was teaching him the spells and incantations that would further aid their deception of the maenad. They all settled themselves amongst the remains of the rafters of the roofline with a clear line of view to the elongated drive where the maenad stood waiting with her entourage.

"You deceived him," Eric spoke lowly, assured that his maker would not hear him. "Why?"

"Cecily was right," Sookie whispered back. "The maenad and he are not so different. They believe what they want to believe. He manipulates the words as he reads them to his own wishes."

"Did you really shield his mind? You felt unsure, fraudulent."

"No," she returned. "I figured if her power is based on perception, defences should work equally well on the same premise. Placebo effect."

"The light?" Eric asked as he flooded the bond with his pride for her quick thinking.

"Cecily told me telepathically," she said smiling at his affection. "For all I know I gave him a fairy sponge bath."

He couldn't help his amusing smirk despite the severity of the situation. "You'll have to give me one of those some time," he leered.

"I'll get back to you on that as soon as my wings come in," she quipped with mirth.

"I can't wait," he said before kissing her softly. They were lost in each other momentarily before they were interrupted by Lafayette's unsubtle cough indicating the Godric's arrival at the gate.

The maenad and her following stood waiting at the gilded gate as Godric's bare feet moved down the steps and over the square stepping stones set in the shallow water. His followers, the Red Weepers, lay prostrate in devotion lining down either side of the drive in their blinding white garbs.

"Ms Forrester," Godric greeted as the gates opened to either side of him. "We meet again."

"Yes," she replied with a self-satisfied grin. "You ran away with your tail between your legs at my last party. We thought we lost you."

"I am sorry to have missed out on all the excitement," he responded politely. "I take it the blood you offered your Dionysus did not suffice."

"I knew you would understand," the maenad smiled. "You are special."

"Perhaps the magic of the two natured's blood is not strong enough to reach your God," Godric spoke as he placed a dagger in her hands in offering.

"Your heart it does not bleed," Maryann said with scrutiny.

"If you prick us do we not bleed?" Godric recited Shakespeare's infamous line as he bared his pale chest. "My blood has carried the magic for over 2000 years. The source of it from the beginning of times. I assure you my heart bleeds. It bleeds in pain every day of this dark existence."

"You will not die," she replied in confusion.

"It is not my death your Liege seeks. Is it not?" Godric said gesturing at her wedding attire. "He seeks your submission, not mine. I am merely the vessel that brings him here."

"Of course in death we seek new life," she spoke reverently with an understanding where her previous sacrifices had gone wrong. "I accept your offering young one."

Godric fell to his knees in front of her. The crunching gravel underneath him appearing to be the only sound within the ring of towering thunderstorms that lined the eyewall of the storm.

Maryann plunged the knife into his heart as the crowds behind her screamed in delight in a cacophony of haunting sounds. The weepers wailed in agonised cries beyond him as the thick and ancient blood trickled out under the knife's edge the maenad's body shook as she felt the ancient power emanating from it.

"Yes," she cried in orgasmic delight as she swallowed a drop of his blood. She continued to lapse at the blood on the dagger striking her own tongue that bled black before the two powerful essences intermingled and travelled from chin to chest staining the white satin impossibly dark. The maenad chanted in her ancient Greek tongue summoning the God who never came. The surrounding thunderstorms drew in closer around them closing in the eye of the hurricane and illuminating the sky with striking bolts of lightning as the air cackled with the friction of electricity.

Down the lined path with weepers the white horned bovine emerged from the darkness beyond.

"My husband," Maryann cried as she ran towards the large animal leaving a bleeding Godric behind.

"I believe he is mine," Cecily said in ancient Greek tongue as she materialised through Sookie's projection aided by Lafayette's proxy as medium and the witch's magic. "At least for a moment in time he was."

"Who are you?" the maenad demanded incensed at the other bride sitting atop her intended.

"I was there when you were born now I will be here when you die."

"Nyx," Maryann said in reverence of the supposed ancient Greek deity. "Goddess of night and death, you honour me with your presence."

"You have spilled the blood of the night," Cecily declared while boring her eyes into that of the maenad as she clicked down her fangs. "Now yours shall flow as my husband takes another wife. I have come to give my blessing to this union, for that you shall offer your immortality in tribute to me."

"I have waited so long," the maenad whimpered out as black tears travelled down her cheeks staining the virginal white satin of her dress further. "I knew he would come for me. Take what belongs to you." She spread her arms wide in offering her eyes turning to the night sky above.

"My children join me," she said beckoning Tara and Eggs who positioned themselves on either side kneeling down with their glazed over dark orbs. She handed the dagger stained with Godric's blood to Eggs who didn't hesitate to plunge it in his own heart immediately. The sinister delight of Tara's laughter as she pulled the knife from his flesh reverberated and sent shivers down Sookie and Lafayette's spines. Fear paralysed them both and Eric gave a questioning look to Tallulah who shook her head to his unspoken question of whether he could take Sookie and Lafayette from the enchanted circle they resided in. Instead he stilled their fleeting forms.

"Her only chance is if you stay here," Eric offered to Tara's two closest confidents whose emotional state was disturbing the projection of 'Nyx'. An annoyed glance by Cecily was directed their way and this caused Sookie and Lafayette to focus on the task at hand once more.

Fearing Tara to be the next victim with the sudden turn of events Sam chose that moment to impale the maenad with his horn. Sookie screamed the name of her friend as she felt the pain of the self-inflicted wound surging through Tara's mind who chose that moment to plunge the knife inside herself.

Sam shifted midway holding the dark stained heart of the diminishing form of the maenad rushing to Tara's side who was profusely bleeding out of her stomach. The encroaching sphere of storms surrounding them dissolved into the darkened sky with the deterioration of the maenad who surrendered her immortality before she could register the illusion that had betrayed her. Only the waning moon provided illumination in the obscurity of night that was previously lit up by lightning bolts.

"Tara, please dear God no," Sam pleaded tears staining his eyes as Eric rushed down a distraught Sookie and Lafayette. Before they were at her side Godric had already positioned himself with Tara's head in his lap and a bleeding wrist down her throat.

Tara looked up in agonized fear as the black cloud lifted from her eyes and desperately tried to fight the forced liquid coming down her throat.

"Shhh, little one," Godric cooed as he carefully removed the dagger from the taut flesh of her abdomen. The pain was unbearable but nothing on Tara's impenetrable façade would display as much. "The Lord is on our side."

Tara could only look wide-eyed at the man who barely looked old enough to drink, preaching the familiar lines of her detested mother that had her despising everyone of equal unfounded devotion. She continued to splutter against his wrist until he let up in fear of chocking her. He bent down to lick at the bleeding wound to seal it shut with his healing saliva unable to avoid the blood that flowed freely forcing him to swallow it down. Godric was, however, convinced that the Lord he spoke of would understand in this instance.

"What the fuck," Tara screamed at the feel of the wet lick across her exposed flesh. Her friends and cousin sighed in relief recognising the opinionated woman in her true form. She looked out disoriented as Sookie and Lafayette tried to soothe her and explain where she was.

"Where's Eggs?" she asked with fear in her eyes. "Is he hurt?"

"I'm sorry Tara honey," Sookie offered sympathetically. "He's… he's gone."

"No, no, no, no," Tara cried repeatedly as she saw the corpse that had been shielded by the mass of bodies that stood over her in concern. She scrambled over on all fours shoving aside the forms of her loved ones with a strength she wasn't aware she possessed.

"Fix him!" she screamed at the ancient vampire who just healed her as she rocked her lover's lifeless corpse in her arms. Godric was bowled over by the anger and grief coursing through Tara's body and filtering into his by the weak tie of their newly formed bond.

"I cannot," he said softly with apologetic eyes.

"Turn him," she pleaded with agonised cries. "Please."

"He was gone instantly," Godric informed with all the compassion he could spare while running his fingers through the small braids of her hair. "He is with God now."

"No," Tara whimpered in the cool arms of the vampire king.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life," Godric recited in condolence alluding that Eggs' was lucky enough to continue on into heaven.

"Fuck you John!" Tara fumed pulling away from his grasp. To hold the man she loved in her arms. "And fuck your God! Get the fuck away from me. All of you."

"Tara," Sookie tried.

"I mean it," she growled. "Let us be."

"Give her time," Lafayette said sagely with his hand on Sookie's shoulder beckoning her to distance. Godric ordered the weepers to return to their quarters who bowed in unison at the lost life and departed.

Those still standing retreated into the shadows leaving Tara and Eggs on the dew-covered grass as real human tears stained the grounds. They observed from a distance only retreating further when the darkened sky released tears of its own. Tara welcomed them alongside her own as the dark crimson that stained them washed away. Sadness beseeched those that had thought this would be their moment of triumph in deluding the impossible to defeat. No words were spoken as they looked upon the fatality of their gains, mere sighs and a few tears were shed. When Sookie started shivering again from both the pain of her friend's sorrow and the cool air on her damp body Eric didn't hesitate to locate a warm blanket to drape around her and held her tightly in his grasp.

"I have never felt such pain," Godric said in his native tongue as he felt Tara's grief and heartache encompass her.

"I told you it's involuntary," Cecily reminded her maker.

"Love," he acknowledged with great sadness. "It should not feel like this."

…

…

…

_*The quotes Sookie and Godric exchange are from the book of Hosea. The quote by Shakespeare is from the Merchant of Venice. The quote Godric offers in condolence is John 3:16._

**A/N: Full disclosure I've only ever studied the old and new testament in an art historical context so I know there's more to the scripture mentioned here but I guess I'm not unlike Godric and simply utilise what works for me. My holiday period is coming to an end so I'll be back to regular weekly updates from next week onwards although I am scrutinising the assigned days, there might be a shuffle but I haven't decided yet. **

**Since a couple of reviewers commented how much they liked Tallulah I drew her up a banner although she only enters the story here or there but I think it's always nice to have a visual for the OC's saves me from having to describe their appearance at length. Link to the blog is up on my profile you'll find her under chapter 12**


	14. Chapter 13 - Shrouds

_Those still standing retreated into the shadows leaving Tara and Eggs on the dew-covered grass as real human tears stained the grounds. They observed from a distance only withdrawing further when the darkened sky released tears of its own. Tara welcomed them alongside hers as the dark crimson that stained them washed away. Sadness beseeched those that had thought this would be their moment of triumph in deluding the impossible to defeat. No words were spoken as they looked upon the fatality of their gains, mere sighs and a few tears were shed. When Sookie started shivering again from both the pain of her friend's sorrow and the cool air on her damp body Eric didn't hesitate to locate a warm blanket to drape around her and held her tightly in his grasp._

"_I have never felt such pain," Godric said in his native tongue as he felt Tara's grief and heartache encompass her._

_"I told you it's involuntary," Cecily reminded her maker._

"_Love," he acknowledged with great sadness. "It should not feel like this."_

**Chapter 13- Shrouds**

Jason was the one who finally managed to reach out to Tara as he sat quietly beside her in the pouring rain and she allowed his presence to comfort her. It had not been so long ago that Amy Burley had entered and cruelly departed from his life. Tara didn't scorn his presence as he let her be, offering only his company and no empty words.

"Let's bring him inside," Jason proposed when it seemed Tara had no more tears to shed. She shook her head in accordance with an uncharacteristic meekness and didn't protest when he and Sam proceeded to carry Eggs' body to the throne room. She diligently washed the remnants of blood from his bleeding heart staining the white sheets red on the improvised bier.

Godric stood observing from the entrance of the doorway with a pristinely white folded length of linen clutched to his chest. He watched Tara shaking and shivering while trying to dry her beloved's body. Jason helped her replace the stained sheets for clean ones and placed some more over to cover his bare torso.

"It looks like he's in a fucking morgue," Tara sobbed at the sight of it.

"I'll find him some clothes," Jason promised as he held her crying form to him closely.

"None of those monk robes," she said brushing away furiously at her tears with the backs of her hands. "He was no saint." Jason simply nodded before exiting the room.

Godric sidled in carefully till he reached her fully aware. "When I was human we shrouded the death in a burial cloth," he explained in gesture to the bundle in his hand. Her gaze didn't avert, making Godric unsure if she was truly aware of his presence, it was a strange sensation for the blood inside her to inform him of something he could not read from the outside. So he simply stood next to her looking upon Benedict Talley's departed form trying to feel what she felt.

"What happened to Jesus, Mary and Joseph?" Tara finally spoke, her cynical nature resurfacing.

"You did not take too kindly to them," he responded politely at which she snorted. "I thought perhaps this would be more to your liking. If you prefer I can leave you alone."

She turned her body slightly to look down at him. He was a good foot shorter than her and unlike his hollow quoted words from an ancient text she despised, this was an offer she could appreciate.

"Nah," she said off handed. "It's ok kid. You can stay."

Godric chuckled softly. "It has been many centuries that someone mistook me for a child. It is… refreshing."

"You're a strange little fella," Tara alleged with a discerning look as she took in the boyish looking vampire and his tattoos properly for the first time. "Were you a pagan or somethin'?"

"I was born in Gaul. Today's…"

"France. And large parts of Western Europe," she cut him off. "I do read you know."

"I'm sorry," he apologised sincerely. "I did not mean to undermine your intelligence. Most humans today do not know."

"Most humans today don't read anymore either," she snapped back. "Most humans are idiots too. I'm just not one of them."

"You certainly are not," Godric acknowledged. "In another time I would have observed you from afar. Recorded your life for history."

"That's just fucking creepy," she said pointedly with an accusing stare before resuming to pull at the white sheets with unnecessary scrutiny to straighten it further.

"I meant it as a compliment," the ancient vampire offered fidgeting with the linen fabric between his hands.

"I wasn't offended," Tara shrugged. "There just haven't been a whole lot of people willing to look after me in my life."

"It has been the same for me too," Godric confessed with a slight pain in his eyes.

"Will you show me how?" she asked with a softer voice taking the cloth from him. He nodded and proceeded to pull the white sheets off of Eggs' form and with Tara's help started to unwrap the cloth between them up and over the corpse. She followed his instruction as they bound him tightly with fabric knots across the body leaving only his head exposed.

"We called this an Eslene," Godric explained as he tucked in a loose end. "A death shirt. My people believed it kept the soul from becoming lost. A bowl would be placed on his chest and his people would fill it with coins and other items to ensure he was properly equipped for the afterlife."

"Shame his bowl would be awfully empty," Tara mused while stroking her finger languidly over Eggs' soft cheek. She noted all of his warmth had been lost with the torrential rain. "I'm the only one to be considered his people left and I ain't got a pot to piss in."

"I'm sure he will be fine wherever he goes from now."

"Knock it off with the Jesus shit will you," she returned with a hard edge before a heavy sigh overtook her firing anger. "The only truth that book ever spoke is 'Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.'* We're just matter, an assembly of atoms and molecules. Circle of life and shit. This is his end, nothing more."

"You don't believe in a higher being?" he asked with worry for her in his voice. "An afterlife?"

"No," Tara stated adamantly. "If I did he or she would have to be an awfully vengeful God to make sense of the shit my life has been so far."

"I hope this is the last of '_shit'_ in your life," Godric offered sincerely as he tried to take inventory of her inner tumult.

"Me too kiddo," she breathed out softly. "It's my fault Maryann showed up you know."

"I think she came for me," Godric denied sternly.

Tara let out a small snort. "Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me,"* she quoted with a roll of her eyes. "Conceited much?"

"Perhaps I should use Mr Shakespeare's words as my royal motto," he jested carefully while finding some sort of comfort in her deflection with humour. He hoped it did the same for her but he struggled to make sense of his own emotions and hers.

"You vamps don't really seem to have a sense of humour," she remarked dryly.

"There is little to laugh about in old age." With that statement they remained silent for as they sat collectively gazing at the loss of human life that would never get to know that wisdom.

"Tara," she finally said while offering her hand out to be shaken.

"Godric," he returned taking her hand in his and shaking it tentatively. Despite his excellent memory he couldn't remember the last time he shook a hand. His was somewhat limp in her firm and well-practiced handshake.

"Explains the God complex then," she returned sardonically.

"I hope you weren't named after the plantation," he joked after stifling a laugh at the expense of his own name.

"That my friend, was the first sign for me not to believe in the good Lord above."

vVvVvVv

"Gran was saving it for me," Sookie said sadly bunching up the satin fabric in her hands. "I always told her I would never have use of it but she kept it anyway."

"I'm sure it can be repaired," Eric offered reaching his fingers for hers. "Pam's dry cleaner is quite adept with blood."

"Even maenad blood?" she asked pointing at the black stains sceptically. The residue seemed to be eating away at the fabric while they spoke and in demonstration she poked a finger through the fabric with a small sigh. "I think I should get some of Pam's warning labels sown in from now on."

"I can have it remade for you," he proposing trying to move the dress out of her hands carefully. "It would look identical."

"That's sweet," she expressed with a pinched smile as her fists clutched the material tightly, unwilling to let it go. "You and your immaterialism have a point though, it's just a thing. The memory of it is more important than the item. A new dress would just be… a new dress."

"Think about it," he offered with a soft kiss to her forehead. "At least save the undamaged fabric."

"Ok," she said giving him permission by handing over what was left of the dress. "Maybe if Jason were ever to marry someone they'd have a use for it."

Using his vampire strength and precision Eric pulled the undamaged panels from the seams till he had a neat stack of the unstained fabric.

"I'd like to see to Tara and my house before we leave," she informed him while fondling the slippery white fabric between her fingers.

"Of course," Eric replied. "We will depart to Bon Temps when she is ready. But I think we should return to Godric after."

"You're not buying his gospel now that he has defeated the maenad, are you?" she asked with worry in her eyes. "We agreed we would leave for safety as soon as this business with the maenad was done."

"When it comes to our survival, yes. Without hesitation we will be gone instantly," Eric offered in explanation. "But if you and Cecily believe you can reach Godric I think I should at least try. He nurtured me for over a thousand years I owe him much more than that."

"I don't want to see him walk down the road of blind faith causing inadvertent destruction and chaos," Sookie said with a heavily exhaled sigh. Her heart ached for his internal pain. "He's not wrong to view the species as equals, it's the method and the company that is."

"The world doesn't like change but the next generation is always thankful for the progression," he recalled from observation. "Mortal enemies don't make the best allies, however."

"Aren't fairies and vampires supposed to be mortal enemies," she sassed.

"That's only because little fairies taste so delicious," Eric said as he sniffed her like an overexcited canine.

"Stop," she cried while giggling at the ticklish feel of it. "I really need to see to Tara."

He pouted a little but he understood her need to support Tara and snuck in a kiss before he let her go. "I'm sorry for your friend's death," Eric tried out as if he was testing the correct weight of the words.

"He wasn't my friend," she explained with a small shrug. "I never even met him before. From Lafayette I gathered he wasn't really the best man for Tara. But he didn't deserve to die the way he did though."

"Cecily said they were in love," Eric said in confusion. "The pain was paralysing Godric."

"Who knows," she returned. "It doesn't hurt any less to lose someone whether they were good for you or not."

"You're too young to be this cynical," he scoffed denying to himself that those same feelings of loss were travelling through her in memory of the Civil War veteran he despised. No matter what that shared bond told him Eric decided he knew better than her projected feelings.

"You're too old to be this optimistic."

He laughed a little at her back talk. "It's good we found each other then."

"If you say so," she returned before giving him a soft kiss for their short goodbye.

vVvVvVv

It annoyed the shit out of Tara how efficient vampires were with dead bodies. Despite New Orleans laying in ruins from the storm, Godric had managed to arrange an escort out of the city with a properly equipped air conditioned box truck to carry Eggs' body to Bon Temps. Ready to depart whenever she desired.

She was glad for not having to deal with Mike Spencer, the town's creepy funeral director, who in Tara's mind was just another bigoted asshole. Everything had been arranged per her wishes and it was only on the journey back that she allowed her eyes to rest for a few moments.

The ride was long but quiet. The others had prepared Sookie on the state of their town but she was shocked upon seeing it nonetheless. She reminded herself that Tara's welfare was more important than the disrepair of her ancestral home.

It was at Tara's request that they all gathered at the old Stackhouse farmstead. Growing up it had been her refuge from the broken mess that was her life from birth. It was the closest thing to a home of her own and Adele Stackhouse had been the only maternal figure and adult she had respected in her entire life and in that moment she never missed her more.

Tara knew she owed Sookie endless apologies for the desecration of her home and her Gran's memory but she lacked the energy to do so. While it shocked Sookie to see the state of the house her Gran took such pride in, she couldn't find it in her to let it upset her. She rocked Tara softly as she cried on the ruined sofa while Jason, Sam and Lafayette cleared the yard of debris.

When the sun set they were joined by Eric and Godric. Tara had allowed the 2000 year old vampire to come to attend the funeral when he had asked her permission to do so. He was granted this only if he were 'to check the Jesus shit at the door.' to which he had reluctantly agreed. Godric had felt guilt over the loss of human life and felt a need to be present and pay respect. He had an overwhelming need to acknowledge the worth of the involuntary sacrifice. It troubled him that he had intended to demand the same of Eric not so long ago.

Tara's continued emotional turmoil confused him greatly and he thought it a lesson from God to learn from this human that suffered so much in her life. Things had to have happened for such reasons.

Eric turned out to be an expedient cleaner much to Sookie's surprise as he whirled around her home complaining about her aged vacuum cleaner. He had to annoyingly slow down his vamp speed for the machine to catch up to him in equal efficiency. They had a small spat over him ordering a new one while she tried to resist arguing too much since he was the first man to ever clean her house. With his diminished swiftness Eric took his time exploring every nook and cranny of her home. The last time he had been there it was to retrieve a disoriented Godric after his initial confrontation with the maenad. Taking in Sookie's home had hardly been a priority.

In quiet contemplation Godric walked around the grounds of Sookie's home marvelling at the energy field by the tree line. He assumed it to be a portal of the fae but the magic of it seemed latent. In preparation he had changed his usual white linen garbs for dark brown ones out of respect for the dead. With a glance at the waxing moon he knew it was time to attend to the burial. Cecily appeared beside him and reached out her hand as they wordlessly returned to follow the party of mourners from a distance.

The ceremony was short and simple. Tara spoke a few words of their time together and his memories. She had spoken the truth to Godric when the earth had covered over Eggs he was gone. Gone from her heart too, she let go with an astounding ease. Tara simply disconnected and moved on. Yes, she carried the sadness but not the sorrow. She had the uncanny ability to simply punctuate an end. It baffled him.

vVvVvVv

"You're a difficult man to track down Northman," the shrill voice of Nan Flanagan commandeered behind him.

"I didn't know I was being tracked," he returned coolly. Eric had wisely retreated to the parking lot of Merlotte's when Nan Flanagan found him, leaving Tara solely in attendance of her closest friends and family. The fact that the smells of Sookie's place of work were less than agreeable to his sensitive nose may have further motivated his chosen position. Unlike Godric, Eric simply couldn't care for Tara in the same way Sookie couldn't care much for Eggs aside from his relation to her friend.

"Why haven't you reasserted your position of Sheriff?" she demanded.

"I haven't been asked to," he shrugged. "Since when do you occupy yourself with middle management?"

"This reign needs balance," she returned her temper barely contained.

"He's already found in with Mrs Krasiki next door," Eric replied sarcastically. "I think she'll pull him adequately off balance."

"She no longer works here," Nan Flanagan informed with an unneeded blink of the eyes.

"Russell," the Viking answered knowingly, pleased with the knowledge that Pam had located him and set him back upon his rightful throne.

"Indeed," she replied staccato. "Your progeny is his head decorator now."

"I hope he likes heads on spikes," Eric grinned before he thoughtfully added, "Although she's very much into pink these days."

"This is a fucking nightmare Viking," the spokeswoman growled. "I have hippy dipshit down here and the psychopath next door. You need to reaffirm your power base or the whole south is going to shit. There are already rumours that that rogue cowboy Stan Baker has his eyes on the Lone Star crown."

"My position was dissolved with Sophie Anne," Eric responded off handed gesturing with his palms as if he was washing his hands clean of it all. "I worked as an interim for the new regime. My tasks are finished. I'm free to go where I please."

"The Authority sees otherwise," she informed with steel in her voice.

"The Authority allowed for this all to happen," Eric retorted unimpressed. "If they had stuck their nose out of a window for five seconds they may have seen this shit coming, like I did."

"Godric seemed a perfectly qualified regent," she bit back. "Do I need to remind you that you've refused to step up for decades?"

"Qualified?" he snorted. "An ancient vampire with a cult following and dealings with our most sworn enemies since the Great Reveal. Yes that surely sounds _perfectly qualified. _You had the opportunity to stop him yet you encouraged him in his delusions._"_

"He's one of the main proponents of the mainstreaming movement," Nan Flanagan explained with a hint of annoyance. "Those are the type of vampires we need in power at this moment in time. But we need moderates like you to really run things. Your maker heeds to your counsel and you are respected in this region."

"His politics extend beyond your make belief mainstreaming bullshit. I refuse to be the muscle behind his misguided ideology or yours for that matter," Eric gritted out, the disgust and vehemence palpable with each punctuation. "There's a reason I enjoyed my fiefdom and didn't move beyond that. I'm not openly supporting this reign."

"So you're jumping ship like your progeny," the blonde vampiress taunted crossing her arms. "It's good to know where your loyalties lie."

"Do not speak to me of loyalties," Eric hissed baring his fangs and allowing the shrill woman to feel the full force of an ancient vampire's strength around her neck. It was only the encroaching black forms of her guard that made him loosen his grasp on her. "Keep this up and you'll find yourself fighting on all frontiers."

"You don't want to be aggravating the Authority, Northman," she said baring her own incisors. "You'll find yourself without allies far too soon."

"The only power that the Authority has is the one they proclaim to have," Eric informed dismissively. If the situation with Godric and the maenad had taught him anything it was exactly that. The political power scheme was upheld by supposition of power there was no army backing up their claims. Like Sookie pointed out, 'Placebo effect'. "Talk to me when your precious Authority dare show themselves instead of hiding behind the likes of disposable baby vamps like you."

"Caution yourself underling," she growled out. Nan hadn't been called a fledgling for a good hundred years and it brought back the bile of tainted memories.

"Three ancient vampires, an army of linen clad vamps that will follow my maker into death. By your admittance I have sway over my maker and add to that my disbanded retinue. My devoted progeny has ingratiated herself with the most powerful vampire on this continent," he listed off his fingers in warning. "And let's not forget Stan Baker. He'll join any bloody fight you invite him to. We go back. Far. Save your cautions for the Authority Ms Flanagan. Perhaps look into that lovely 'church' that seems to be fine with us all of a sudden despite vampires clearly killing their leader. I'll never carry the title or the crown but unofficially I run the South when I feel like it and no authority has the power to claim or dictate otherwise."

"This isn't over Northman," she spat out before speeding off.

"It certainly isn't," Eric replied to the muggy air. "It's only the fucking beginning."

…

…

…

* Genesis 3:19

* William Shakespeare Anthony and Cleopatra Act 5 scene 2

...

...

...

**A/N: True Blood season two always hinted at these 'rogue' vampires of Dallas. I think it was Barry the bellboy who stated as much. Their version of Stan (who goes by Baker instead of Davis) was supposed to be the epitome of that but he got killed in the explosion but I always thought it was a bit of a lost opportunity so I'm going with that Stan instead of book Stan. Tara got herself a character banner because she will be appearing in and out of the story now and then with her tie to Godric.**

**In case you haven't stumbled across it yet, to make up for the lacklustre ending of the TB finale I have been utilising the announcement posts for the stories on my blog to write little quick fixes around the 'Thank You' episode. They're proving pretty popular over there so I decided to add them to this site too, they're collected under the name Thanksgiving Fixin's. Anyhow they're uber short and I'll see how far my imagination stretches but there's a couple rummaging around in my head and they take as long to write as my usual announcement posts so it works for me. Feel free to check them out.**


	15. Chapter 14 - Broken

"_Do not speak to me of loyalties," Eric hissed baring his fangs and allowing the shrill woman to feel the full force of an ancient vampire's strength around her neck. It was only the encroaching black forms of her guard that made him loosen his grasp of her. "Keep this up and you'll find yourself fighting on all frontiers."_

"_You don't want to be aggravating the Authority, Northman," she said baring her own incisors. "You'll find yourself without allies far too soon."_

"_The only power that the Authority has is the one they proclaim to have," Eric informed dismissively. If anything the situation with Godric and the maenad had proven to him it was exactly that. The political power scheme was upheld by supposition of power there was no army backing up these claims. "Talk to me when your precious Authority dare show themselves instead of hiding behind the likes of disposable baby vamps like you."_

"_Caution yourself underling," she growled out. Nan hadn't been called a fledgling for a good hundred years and it brought back the bile of tainted memories._

"_Three ancient vampires, an army of linen clad vamps that will follow my maker into death. By your admittance I have sway over my maker and add to that my disbanded retinue," he listed off his fingers. "And let's not forget Stan Baker. He'll join any bloody fight you invite him to. We go back far. Save your cautions for The Authority Ms Flanagan. Perhaps look into that lovely 'church' that seems to be fine with us all of a sudden despite vampires clearly killing their leader. I'll never carry the title or the crown but unofficially I run the South and no authority has the power to claim otherwise."_

"_This isn't over Northman," she spat out before speeding off._

"_It certainly isn't," Eric replied to the muggy air. "It's only the fucking beginning."_

**Chapter 14 – Broken **

Godric followed his blood to find Tara sitting by the shallow pond of water behind Merlotte's Bar and Grill. He sat down quietly next to the silent girl nursing a bottle of beer. She looked over at him and cracked a tiny smile.

"Don't take this the wrong way Godric, but I wouldn't talk to you under normal circumstances. Is your blood doing this to me?" she said pointing between them in demonstration as if to give physiological evidence to her premise. "Don't ask me why but I feel at ease with you. I don't feel at ease with anyone. Especially people I just met."

"I'd like to say my company is enticing you, but alas it is the blood in this case."

"Fucking A! This is why Sookie was mooning over Vampire Bill so easily," she announced pleased with her own deductions. "No wonder she's already on vamp number two. Sure she stuck a straw in that giant juice box too."

"They genuinely care for each other," Godric informed with a discerned face.

"Right," she huffed scornfully. "Like a vampire is capable of that."

"We care for what is important to us."

"Yes," she agreed pointedly. "Other vampires."

"He loves her," he whispered as if frightened of the word itself. "But he is too stubborn to admit it to himself just yet. She is a good match for him."

"A death match maybe," Tara retorted with a roll of her eyes. "She's gonna get herself killed by hanging around you dead fella's."

"Eric will protect her with his life."

"Too bad he doesn't have one anymore," she snapped back before sucking at the neck of the bottle swallowing down the liquid gold with great satisfaction.

He let out a small chuckle. "I am sure he will protect her with his _undead_ life."

Her derisive snort indicated she put little stock in that presumption.

"How did you end up in the company of a maenad?" Godric probed.

"Well I knew her as Maryann, the miracle social worker," Tara explained. "Apparently I called her here to Bon Temps. You see I thought I had a demon inside of me," she said emitting a small groan with the last sentence as she remembered her own stupidity.

"You don't seem the type to believe in that," Godric observed.

"I'm not usually," she agreed. "But my mother, who is the unrivalled champion to you when it comes to the Jesus crap, did. I had seen her try and fail so many times but alcohol always won." A small sigh escaped her lips as she took inventory of the derailing mess her life had become in the process of a few months. "I stood by her 'cause I love her. But at some point enough was enough and I couldn't stand witness to her own destruction."

"You left," Godric deduced.

"Yes." Tara stared down at the label on her bottle as if taking the information in for the first time to mask the embarrassment she felt over the abandonment of her mother. Shame and guilt fluttered through the bond that Tara was unwilling to display to the world. "My mom came to me convincing me she had it in her to change. She just needed my money to rid her of the 'demon'. I was sceptic but apparently some fraudster named Ms Jeanette with a trailer in the middle of nowhere did the impossible."

"She rid her of the demon?"

"No," Tara laughed. "Figured you would fall for that too. It was a placebo; she believed it so it worked for her. I'd have to check, we only just returned, but she was doing better than I have ever seen her do."

"How are you so certain it was false?"

"I honestly believed it. When Ms Jeanette told me I housed an even greater demon inside of me, I believed that too and underwent an exorcism. Rather I wanted to _believe_ it," Tara sighed. "It would be so simple if we could just be absolved like that. Too bad I came across her in the pharmacy the next town over. When I confronted her she admitted to drugging me with peyote just to rid me of my cash.

"According to Maryann my inner turmoil was the perfect amount of chaos to seek me out," she shrugged. "She seemed in the habit of collecting the disenfranchised."

"You are lucky to not truly house a demon inside of you," Godric noted sagely. "I have been forced to bear mine for over two millennia."

"You don't really believe that shit you spew do you?" Tara asked disbelievingly.

"I have found much comfort in Christ's teachings," he explained. "I have been keeping journals on different humans tracking them through the ages. Where they evolved my species have not. We stand in different moments in time beside each other. I don't blame humans for fearing us so much and I don't see anything wrong in seeing you as our equal and moral superior."

"And you sought out the gospel of Christ for the moral superiority," she snorted. "Predictable I guess, if you're looking for atonement."

"There is much my species has done wrong. Too much to make up for in your lifetime but I believe our sins can be absolved through sacrifice."

"You're not broken Godric," Tara said earnestly, for the first time in her life she observed the same amount of pain she always carried mirrored in another's eyes. In their locked gaze there was an understanding between them that communicated through their weak bond. Pain was their friend, one they happily shared. A comfort too familiar to simply let go. Her hand rested tentatively atop his as she offered him the only wisdom she could afford that applied to her as much as to him, "You're just lost."

"What if I was never whole," he mumbled to himself as they sat staring at the trembling surface of the water while insects danced their own un-choreographed performance.

vVvVvVv

"Trick or treat?" Russell drawled out seeking Pam's advice on the young man before them. He was well aware her tastes were decidedly divergent from the pageant of boy toys that were paraded before them but that only made her discern of the opposite sex all the more interesting to him.

"Treat," Pam answered as she finished her critical examination of the fangbanger in his golden speedos. They found themselves in _Mortalis, _Jackson's own version of Fangtasia. Although Pam would never allow the comparison, as Mortalis was clearly an inferior imitation of her own carefully crafted establishment.

The vampires of Mississippi had taken little persuasion to side with their former monarch as soon as he reappeared. After retaking the throne, vampire businesses had wasted no time in fanning Russell Edgington's ass. Everyone was now seeking his favour to hold onto favourable positions or move further up the ladder. Those that were nervous had reason to be, Edgington was the last vampire you would seek to cross.

So it had come to be that their impromptu visit to the night club had turned into the auditions for his personal donor pool. Dr Ludwig had been called in to draw blood in preparation of final approval. It had always been Talbot who had arranged these things and although Pam was an entertaining sidekick the loss of him was far from compensated.

The Great Reveal was an interesting thing to a vampire who had sat out from the world for over a decade in which it took place. As a vampire, others of his species had lived in fear of him for well over two millennia. With age came distance and the number of ancients that could commiserate in their mundane existence were limited.

Talbot had been an exception, he was never scared of Russell even when he revealed himself to be a vampire when they had met at a masked ball. Perhaps foolishly on Talbot's behalf as he was soon his child. The table had quickly turned on the maker however, as he found himself at the mercy of Talbot. There was little he wouldn't allow his beloved consort, not like a spoiled child but rather an indulged spouse. They fought like the best but made up all the better.

Revisiting the home they had once shared had stirred his melancholy over his loss once again. Despite Pam's best efforts to show him all the advantages of being out in the open he could care little for it. For a young vampire like Pam it was exciting indeed, to be looked at with awe and desire. Willing humans seeking her favour at every turn. He was surprised this behaviour hadn't incited an obesity pandemic amongst the vampire population with the quantities of blood that was on offer. He thought Talbot would find the whole charade pathetic.

Russell had experienced similar attentions from other vampires as king and as ancient for centuries. The humans' attentions did little to surprise him with their misplaced admiration, his wolves held more true affection for him than any willing fangbanger present that night. He was bored already and was wondering why he bothered to leave the comfort of his cave at all.

"We still have a treat waiting in the basement," Pam crooned as she dismissed the next candidate with a flick of her wrist. She had never held the fangbangers of Fangtasia in high regard but the offerings at Mortalis had elevated them to a new light.

"The ones that speak so easily rarely speak the truth," Russell said dismissively. There was much truth to be found from the edge of a silver knife but a silver tongue revealed very little. The king of Mississippi wondered if there was anything impressive when it came to Bill Compton. He vaguely remembered the surly vampire hanging onto his maker's apron strings in the past. Russell had merely noted then that his chances of survival as a vampire was only by the protection of his maker and his capability of narrating false truths. The ancient vampire had nothing against liars, especially those that were good at it, but to stand the test of times one needed more than a singular skill.

Russell had dealt with the investigations of Talbot after he felt his ultimate demise and his inability to find truth had set off his blind rage. He had spent many weeks searching for his partner that was supposed to be his for eternity. When no definitive trace for his true death could be found he had satiated his lust for blind vengeance with the blood of any other that crossed his path. It was quite the contingent that was finally able to sedate him.

"I think I've seen enough kitten," Russell whispered to Pam as another group of potential donors were sent to the exit. "Let's see what your friend Mr Compton wishes to share with the rest of the class."

"I don't have friends," Pam stated bluntly. "I have a maker and enemies. The rest is insignificant."

"If you had something enticing dangling between your legs you would be my perfect consort," Russell cooed as he patted her head like a small child.

"Surprisingly enough you're not the first to say that to me," she returned sardonically as she led him back into the limousine along with the single chosen donor in the golden speedo. His blood was of a decent flavour but his eagerness to please was grating to both vampires. They quickly glamoured him and shoved him out at the next stop light, neither one of them concerned with how the almost entirely nude man was to get home on this cool night. Alcide and Logan who had been designated as royal security wisely held their tongues only sharing a mere look of concern.

The dungeons of Russell's elaborate mansion were a familiar sight to the ancient vampire. Talbot had always tried to civilise their reign imitating the life of human royals. 'Dinner' was served from the finest porcelain on a fully dressed table every night. While Russell coddled Talbot much, he did not refrain from asserting his power with an iron fist to the rest of his subjects. He adhered to the simple logic of his ancient times when law was simply equated in strength and he possessed a lot of it. His cells saw many customers in the past and would undoubtedly continue to do so with his reassertion of the crown.

Bill Compton was silvered in place on a simple wooden chair, writhing against the restraints showing off his inexperience with captivity and torture. He had clung to his mother's teat for far too long to be considered healthy among vampires. Russell had procured Lorena for her cruelty, for it was not unlike his own and she was an easy scapegoat to placate to Talbot's sensibilities. Her child rearing skills, however, left much to be desired.

"You sought an audience Mr Compton," Russell enquired, wanting to get the business of traitors over with expediently.

"Yes, your majesty," Bill replied as he attempted to bow through his silver chains.

"Spare me the protocol and get on with it," the king replied motioning for him to do exactly that.

"Lorena was responsible for Talbot's disappearance and death," Bill informed with pleading eyes.

"Those silver chains must be really uncomfortable," Russell replied kindly, his tone completely void of reaction to the confession as he softly caressed the vampire's cool cheeks.

"Yes," Bill replied with some relief thinking his torment had come to an end. "I will share all I know if you grant me asylum in your territories."

"Care for a drink Mr Compton?" Russell asked. "I tried this thing called True Blood tonight. It is just awful but my little PamPam tells me you are quite taken with it."

"I am a mainstreamer," he replied confused at the trajectory change in their conversation. "I have become accustomed to the flavour."

"Mainstreaming. Such an odd word," Russell said contemplatively. "Running with the currents of time is not exactly innate to our kind. Tell me Mr Compton why a vampire like yourself would subscribe to such follies."

"We must evolve with the times," he stated hungrily as Russell placed an opened bottle in front of him just out of reach. Russell had recognised his malnourishment easily, silver was never kind on the system but the desire for sustenance always brought one to a quicker confession.

"We have nothing to do with time Mr Compton," the king informed sagely. "We do not serve it as we have no fear of it passing or coming. You must come up with a better lie than that."

"I belief in the cause," he offered but even to Bill it sounded unconvinced. Russell simply shook his head while a maniacal laugh escaped him. He poured out the blood over the table ensconcing the small room with the scent of synthetic blood. Bill could hardly contain his fangs that were emerging with a Pavlov reaction to the mere perfume of it.

"Such a strange substance," Russell observed as he fingered the liquid between the pads of his fingertips. "It feels like it, it smells like it but frankly it tastes of shit. I'm surprised they didn't go with _I can't believe it's not blood_. No one drinks this willingly."

Bill continued to fight the restraints that held him firmly in place as he was itching to get any taste, even if it was of the foul concoction. Never had the Civil War vet gone without feeding for this length of time and he feared delirium would soon set in and soon after that true death. "I wish to confess," he strangled out.

"Don't we all," Russell noted ignoring the pleas as he continued to paint the table top with the synthetic substance using his fingers as brushes. He gave a small smile as he saw the smiley face he had painted. "Pity there is little of interest in that for me. This however is far more interesting," he continued as he pulled a donor bag of blood from the fridge.

"My Talbot collected rare vintages you know," Russell said as he tasted a few drops on his tongue, swirling it around and pulling in air as if tasting a fine wine. "He would approve of this one," he assessed with a discerning expertise. "Mediterranean notes with a hint of apple."

"You can taste that?" Bill asked with great longing, salivating at the thought of tasting humanity again. The opened blood bag was now urging his instincts even further to do anything to reach the nourishment. Beyond that the thought of one day being able to taste the flavours of his human memories urged his desire to continue to exist. Russell smiled with glee as he recognised the young vampire succumbing to his survival mode where he could barter anything for nothing.

In response to the posed question all Bill received was a cacophony of cackles. "So trusting you are little mouse," Russell said as he painted a line of synthetic blood from his forehead down his nose. "No wonder you find yourself here without the protection of your maker."

Bill hissed as he desperately tried to concentrate on something other than the blood on his skin which he had no hope of reaching but assaulted his senses. Russell tore the bag of blood open wider spilling the contents over the concrete floor in a dramatic fashion.

"Oops," he spoke unconvincingly of the accidentally of events. "I guess this all of it left," he said holding up his wet forefingers in front of Bill's mouth. "Hungry, pet?"

"Starving," he choked out as his tongue darted out desperately for the blood that remained tauntingly unobtainable.

"You had something to confess," Russell reminded indulgently. The terror that was slowly overtaking the eyes of this pawn reinvigorated the ancient passion for this endangered art.

"I…" Bill tried not knowing what he could offer anymore. He had only ever suspected his maker of masterminding the carefully orchestrated coupe that had her sitting upon a throne. He had nothing to offer in evidence for his claims. So instead he remained silent.

"I thought as much," Russell said wiping his bloodied fingers on the white linen drawstring pants Bill was still wearing from his transfer out of Louisiana. "I have met many like you Mr Compton and I assuredly will meet many more. Think wisely next time you seek an audience with a regent."

"But Lorena," he tried desperately not following through with a convincing argument. Within the blink of an eye his tongue was ripped from Bill's body pulling its extrinsic muscles from the bone. The scream was frightening to Pam, who in her long existence had seen much but this was unprecedented even to her.

"You think I did not have your maker meet every single inch of this dungeon before I was convinced she had no hand in Talbot's disappearance. Do you think me so inept?" he hissed out. Bill tried to gargle a no but phonetic enunciation was now lost to him.

"You betrayed not one but two queens and a king. Most offensive of all you dare betray your own maker." The fear that resided in Bill washed out any rationale left in the vampire, all that coursed through him was pain, fear and hunger.

"I do not bargain with traitors," Russell growled out as he kicked the chair from beneath his bound body expertly landing him in the puddle of spilled donor blood and splinters of wood. Bill cried out as he desperately writhed in his confines while trying to move a tongue that was no longer there to ingest the intoxicating liquid.

"Sorry poppet that was supposed to be your treat," the ancient vampire offered in commiseration to Pam as they closed the cell door on the agonising and haunting cries of the civil war veteran who desperately sought to feed the plenitude of blood he now resided in but would remain unable till the blood was well and truly spoilt.

"That was treat enough," she drawled out contentedly as if in a haze of post coital bliss. "Perhaps we should offer that offending item to your wolves."

"I would not want to soil their mouths with such offal," Russell returned testily as he threw the bloody tongue down a garbage disposal which Pam excitedly switched on not caring that Compton's filthy blood stained her impeccable wardrobe in the process. "If my wolves are to feed off men, at least let them not be the broken ones."

vVvVvVv

"Am I interrupting?" Eric asked as he approached the two silent figures regarding the creek.

"Go ahead," Tara spoke to Godric before she returned her gaze to the trembling surface of the water. The ancient vampire stood to follow his child to a secluded area.

"I wish to stay with Tara for a while," Godric said before Eric could speak to him of the news of Mississippi's demise.

"Are you attracted to her?" Eric wondered aloud.

"She is quite beautiful but no," Godric answered with a small smile.

"Then why the interest?" Tara's blood seemed uninteresting at best to Eric and his maker didn't even willingly partake in that anymore. There was some intelligence to her but nothing to warrant the intrigue his maker was granting her.

"My blood tells me many things inside her," Godric regarded thoughtfully of his first blood connection to a human. He had been filled with a void with emptiness for many centuries and releasing Eric had only deepened that further. This spirited unknown human had woken things long forgotten in him. "I believe God has put her on my path, she deserves as much redemption as you and I."

"It doesn't appear she wishes to be saved," Eric observed as he had recognised Tara's recalcitrance to any proclamations based on faith all too well as his own.

"I seem to be collecting a whole host of those," Godric expressed with a hint of disappointment as he carefully regarded his son for the first time in what appeared seemingly never ending nights. "You have bonded with Sookie."

"Yes," Eric answered simply to his maker's observation.

"In the past you would have sought my council on such a large decision," Godric noted nostalgically. In their many centuries together Eric had always lived independently of his maker but he would always seek his maker's insight on such altering events. It pained him that his advice no longer seemed necessary in his child's decisions.

"We no longer live in the past," Eric responded with the apparent truth. He had mourned the loss of his former maker with anger but now he simply dealt with fact. It was simply easier that way. Everything that he felt now resided far closer to Sookie and the bond that emerged there. "I stand on my own now."

"You are truly hers now," Godric understood with a twinge of regret as he too grieved the forfeiture of their connection. When the voice inside him had spoken to him to sacrifice his eldest child he had taken it literally. A venture to be a collective one, where their binding would bring them to redemption together in whatever the afterlife may bring. In his mind he was saving Eric where his child had simply been unable to see the light that was offered to him. He should have known that sacrifice was more than that. It was standing witness to loss. The sacrifice he had intended to demand was no different of the Maenad's that caused Eggs' death and nearly had killed Tara too. Godric had to admit that Sookie was the brighter light that had saved Eric from eternal darkness. Eric was lucky to belong to her.

"As she is mine."

"I am happy for you," Godric declared what he truly wanted to feel but all he could experience was a deep sense of loss. That of his own and Tara's. That perhaps neither one of them would know what Eric and Sookie had found with each other. A sense of belonging to this world.

Eric simply refrained from commenting as he saw the pain in Godric's eyes. He still sought his approval but the weight of it was no longer determinate to his own appreciation.

"Russell has returned to his post," Eric finally informed in an attempt to distract his maker's downtrodden thoughts. "How do you wish to deal with your intended?"

"She has not left New Orleans," Godric noted as he only just received the latest communications on the pending marriage negotiations a few hours ago. "I think she is not even aware herself. I owe it to her to inform her in person."

"Nan seeks to expedite her to the Authority. Her troops are already on their way to confine her," Eric explained as he regarded his maker's sudden pensive pacing.

"Russell only kept his head due to his age. I doubt they will offer her the same arrangement," Godric voiced sadly after a moment of silence. "Perhaps I should uphold my intent to marry her. Offer her diplomatic immunity as my wife."

Eric looked at his maker disbelievingly. In that moment he decided that honour did not suit Godric, it turned him into an unnecessary martyr for a cause Eric had no confidence in. Redemption seemed to him a personal fight, not an apologetic gesture to settle a score no one bothered to keep. To Eric each individual act, be it good or bad, deserved its own repercussion. One dealt with facts not supposition, reckoning was in the here and now not in the after.

Eric didn't know what he could have done to deserve the affection of Sookie Stackhouse in his long past but he knew it was not for services rendered. He wasn't a reward to her suffering through the manipulations of Bill Compton either. Their joining was simply a fortunate consequence of circumstances. A mutual attraction. It might very well turn out to be the biggest wound inflicted on his existence but he dealt with it knowingly nonetheless.

"She owes you nothing," Eric said coolly of the woman who had manipulated them all like pawns. "Let the Authority deal with her."

"Sookie would be forever tied to Bill Compton without her intervention."

Eric hissed with venom at the mere thought of it. Not so much for his own loss but the thought of her fate, everything that he cherished in her spirit would be extinguished from her bright eyes that he loved so much. No _liked_ so much.

"Her manipulations and Sophie Anne's placed Sookie in that position. One doing does not recuse the other. Do not see it as your calling to save her too," Eric advised his maker with disbelief that Godric would even consider such actions.

"Without those manipulations you and Sookie would never have met," Godric pointed out. "Is that how you would have preferred for events to have unfolded?"

"If it had spared Sookie that pain, then yes," Eric replied, his honesty on the reversal of his opinion even taking him by surprise. There was nothing in the world he would not give up for Sookie and it was an odd realisation that it could even include his own presence in her life. Now that he had felt that ache that Bill Compton had created inside her, robbed her of a rare purity, there wasn't anything he wouldn't give to liberate her from it.

"You were always a better man than I."

"You were always the better vampire," Eric offered sincerely of their shared past, somewhere inside him believing it could be a truth once more.

"I fear I can no longer take pride in that," Godric returned as he failed to meet his child's eyes.

"Know that I always will, for the vampire that was and raised me."

…

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**A/N:**** This story arrived a day late due to sudden work commitments on Monday and Tuesday which had me travelling abroad, so my regular scheduling got interrupted so instead of trying to maintain the usual scheduling with set days I've decided to just post chapters in a set order every other day for a while. I have four stories going on at the moment and I toss in the Thanksgiving Fixin's in between so count on the next chapter to be here in a week plus a day. **


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